[From virtue bioethics to bioethics personalistic: is integration possible?]

Abstract

In this article we analyze how the idea of virtue as an important element of human ethical action is slowly being lost. There are proposals both in ethics and in bioethics to rehabilitate virtue and to consider it as a very important element of human morality. In particular, in the health sector the rehabilitation of virtue, would imply greater focus on the ethical character of professionals and personal improvement rather than on training for the resolution of ethical cases. Such guidance would also improve the health professional-patient relationship with an increase not only in the technical quality but also in human dimension of health sciences. However, this orientation or tendency in bioethics suffers from a deficit in reasoning due to lack of a complete theory of human action that covers the good and also norms. The second part of the article looks at the relation between of virtue and personalistic bioethics. Virtue is considered as an important element of human action and is integrated with the good and norms. After analyzing and distinguishing between what is today considered personalistic bioethics and the contributions of personalism to bioethics, the paper concludes that the integration of virtue in personalistic bioethics is not only possible but desirable to overcome the ethical minimalism that has resulted from modern day principlism driven bioethics.