Why Conscience Matters

The book provides a detailed introduction to a major debate in bioethics, as well as a rigorous account of the role of conscience in professional decision-making. Exploring the role of conscience in healthcare practice, this book offers fresh counterpoints to recent calls to ban or severely restrict conscience objection.

Autorentext

Xavier Symons, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Plunket Centre for Ethics, Australian Catholic University and St Vincent's Health Australia.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: Conscience Revisited 2. Conscience Under Fire: A Critical Analysis of the Case Against Conscientious Objection in Healthcare 3. A Theory of Conscience Part I: Conscience and the Moral Life 4. A Theory of Conscience Part II: Virtue, Character and Conscientious Objection in Medical Practice 5. Making Space for the Exercise of Conscience in Healthcare 6. The Permissibility of Institutional Conscientious Objection 7. The Role of Conscience in Medical Practice and Professional Life