Principle-bioethics and virtue-bioethics: the present debate in U.S.A.

Abstract

The author deals with the philosophical debate on the ethical foundations of bioethics in U.S.A. and pays particular attention to the principle's paradigm proposed by T.L. Beauchamp and J.F. Childress and to the critical-integrative interventions of virtue bioethics. The debate is dealt within the framework of the development of the Anglo-American philosophical reflections which react to the abstract and schematic theories of principles and revalue the moral category of virtue since it is closely linked to the concrete aspects of moral life and to the motivations of actions. The article underlines the relevance of the concept of virtue in the present debate of bioethics as an integration of the formulation of principles which guide biomedical acts. It also points out for a deepening of the foundations which should respect the central value of the person.