Phronesis and an ethics of responsibility

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dc.contributor.authorVan Niekerk, Anton A.en_ZA
dc.contributor.authorNortje, Nicoen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-07-07T12:13:35Z
dc.date.available2014-07-07T12:13:35Z
dc.date.issued2013-06-24
dc.descriptionCITATION: Van Niekerk, A. A. & Nortje, N. 2013. Phronesis and an ethics of responsibility. South African Journal of Bioethics and Law, 6(1):28-31, doi:10.7196/SAJBL.262.
dc.descriptionThe original publication is available at http://www.sajbl.org.za
dc.description.abstractENGLISH ABSTRACT: This article concerns the development of a framework for the formation of an adequate approach to moral reasoning in bioethics. Bioethics has largely been dominated by the influence of two approaches to moral reasoning, viz. utilitarianism and Kantian deontology. We aim to develop an approach to moral reasoning that we find more suitable, and that enables one to incorporate some of the valuable aspects of the two frameworks without succumbing to their deficiencies. This approach is the ethics of responsibility, as inspired by the work of Emmanuel Levinas, Zygmunt Bauman and Hans Jonas. The two central ideas of this approach are (i) the ethics of responsibility as an approach that accommodates the possibility of failure; and (ii) that the ethics of responsibility suggests the need for a dialectic of norms and applications that can, in principle, overcome some of the most serious shortcomings of utilitarianism and deontology. In this regard we draw strongly on Aristotle’s notion of practical wisdom, or phronesis. We further develop Aristotle’s statement that ‘Prudence is not concerned with universals only; it must also take cognisance of particulars, because it is concerned with conduct, and conduct has its sphere in particular circumstances.’en_ZA
dc.description.sponsorshipAFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaaraf_ZA
dc.description.urihttp://www.sajbl.org.za/index.php/sajbl/article/view/262
dc.description.versionPublisher's version
dc.format.extent4 pagesen_ZA
dc.identifier.citationVan Niekerk, A. A. & Nortje, N. 2013. Phronesis and an ethics of responsibility. South African Journal of Bioethics and Law, 6(1):28-31, doi:10.7196/SAJBL.262.
dc.identifier.issn1999-7639 (online)
dc.identifier.otherdoi:10.7196/SAJBL.262
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/92332
dc.language.isoen_ZAen_ZA
dc.publisherHealth & Medical Publishing Groupen_ZA
dc.rights.holderAuthors retain copyrighten_ZA
dc.subjectMoral philosophyen_ZA
dc.subjectMoral reasoningen_ZA
dc.subjectUtilitarianismen_ZA
dc.subjectDeontologyen_ZA
dc.subjectBioethics -- Philosophyen_ZA
dc.titlePhronesis and an ethics of responsibilityen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA
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