Bioethics in Denmark: moving from first-to second-order analysis?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Bioethics in Denmark

T2 - moving from first-to second-order analysis?

AU - Nielsen, Morten Ebbe Juul

AU - Andersen, Martin Marchman

PY - 2014/7

Y1 - 2014/7

N2 - This article examines two current debates in Denmark - assisted suicide and the prioritization of health resources - and proposes that such controversial bioethical issues call for distinct philosophical analyses: first-order examinations, or an applied philosophy approach, and second-order examinations, what might be called a political philosophical approach. The authors argue that although first-order examination plays an important role in teasing out different moral points of view, in contemporary democratic societies, few, if any, bioethical questions can be resolved satisfactorily by means of first-order analyses alone, and that bioethics needs to engage more closely with second-order enquiries and the question of legitimacy in general.

AB - This article examines two current debates in Denmark - assisted suicide and the prioritization of health resources - and proposes that such controversial bioethical issues call for distinct philosophical analyses: first-order examinations, or an applied philosophy approach, and second-order examinations, what might be called a political philosophical approach. The authors argue that although first-order examination plays an important role in teasing out different moral points of view, in contemporary democratic societies, few, if any, bioethical questions can be resolved satisfactorily by means of first-order analyses alone, and that bioethics needs to engage more closely with second-order enquiries and the question of legitimacy in general.

U2 - 10.1017/S0963180113000935

DO - 10.1017/S0963180113000935

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 24867435

SN - 0963-1801

VL - 23

SP - 326

EP - 333

JO - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics

JF - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics

IS - 3

ER -