Abstract

This article explores the feasibility of using an appeal to the virtues in bioethical analyses, and the difficulties posed by the fact that most virtues and especially hope, are embedded in particular traditions. Whose virtues, then, shall focus our analyses ? A brief description of Christian hope is used to argue that hope does play a major role in various health care venues and to suggest that the common elements in a secular account of the virtues can be found in an unbiased sharing of one's religious background or way of life.