Scepticism about the virtue ethics approach to nursing ethics
Nursing Philosophy 11 (3):151-158 (2010)
| Abstract | Nursing ethics centres on how nurses ought to respond to the moral situations that arise in their professional contexts. Nursing ethicists invoke normative approaches from moral philosophy. Specifically, it is increasingly common for nursing ethicists to apply virtue ethics to moral problems encountered by nurses. The point of this article is to argue for scepticism about this approach. First, the research question is motivated by showing that requirements on nurses such as to be kind, do not suffice to establish virtue ethics in nursing because normative rivals (such as utilitarians) can say as much; and the teleology distinctive of virtue ethics does not transpose to a professional context, such as nursing. Next, scepticism is argued for by responding to various attempts to secure a role for virtue ethics in nursing. The upshot is that virtue ethics is best left where it belongs – in personal moral life, not professional ethics – and nursing ethics is best done by taking other approaches. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,679 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesHelga Kuhse (1997). Caring: Nurses, Women, and Ethics. Blackwell Publishers.
Verena Tschudin (ed.) (2003). Approaches to Ethics: Nursing Beyond Boundaries. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Verena Tschudin (2003). Ethics in Nursing: The Caring Relationship. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Winifred Pinch & Amy Marie Haddad (eds.) (2008). Nursing and Health Care Ethics: A Legacy and a Vision. American Nurses Association.
Sarah Banks (2009). Ethics in Professional Life: Virtues for Health and Social Care. Palgrave Macmillan.
Kate Hodkinson (2008). How Should a Nurse Approach Truth-Telling? A Virtue Ethics Perspective. Nursing Philosophy 9 (4):248-256.
Ian E. Thompson, Kath M. Melia & Kenneth M. Boyd (eds.) (2006). Nursing Ethics. Churchill Livingstone Elsevier.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2010-06-08Total downloads80 ( #9,724 of 549,080 )Recent downloads (6 months)2 ( #37,333 of 549,080 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
