title: Interpretive bioethics: the way of discernment.
abstract: This paper critically appraises the applied action-guide approach to bioethics and finds it wanting in two ways: it is tethered to a social contract view of the doctor-patient relationship that is largely incompatible with experiences of illness and care; and, as a formalist doctrine, it lacks critical edge and tends toward accommodationism. An alternative approach is recommended that involves interpreting moral experience by means once associated with the rhetorical arts--practical reasoning, hermeneutics, casuistry, and thick description.
authors.affiliation: Institute for the Medical Humanities, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston 77550.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Carson
mesh_terms: D001675:Bioethics; D032764:Casuistry; D026689:Ethical Analysis; D026822:Ethicists; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D010686:Philosophy, Medical; D012945:Social Values; D028722:Virtues