RT Article
T1 Public Reason Requirements in Bioethical Discourse
JF Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics
VO 34
IS 1
SP 74
OP 83
A1 Holm, Søren 1901-1971
LA English
YR 2025
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1925653471
AB This paper analyzes the use of public reason requirements in bioethical discourse and discusses when such requirements are warranted. By a "public reason requirement," I mean a requirement that those involved in a particular discourse or debate only use reasons that can properly be described as public reasons. The first part of the paper outlines the concept of public reasons as developed by John Rawls and others and discusses some of the general criticisms of the concept and its importance. The second part then distinguishes between two types of public reason requirements in bioethics. One type is what I will call the orthodox public reason requirement since it hews closely to the original Rawlsian conception. The second is what I will call the expansive public reason requirement, which departs quite radically from the Rawlsian conception and applies the requirement not to policy discourse or policymaking, but to the actions of individuals. Both types of requirements will be analyzed, and some problems in applying public reason requirements in bioethics will be identified. It will be argued that the expansive public reason requirement is misguided. The concluding part argues that requirements of civic civility and what Rawls terms an "inclusive view" of public reason should be important in bioethical discourse.
K1 Rawls
K1 Metaphysics
K1 overlapping consensus
K1 public reason
K1 Religion
DO 10.1017/S0963180124000094