The foundations of bioethics and secular humanism
why is there no canonical moral content?
pp. 259-285
in: Reading Engelhardt, Berlin, Springer, 1997Abstrakt
This volume"s essays direct primary attention to The Foundations of Bioethics and Bioethics and Secular Humanism: The Search for a Common Morality.1 As the reader will have noted, some speak principally to the first edition of Foundations. Others address the second edition and indeed compare the latter with the former. In what follows, my response builds on the second edition. I am honored by the attention these readers have given to my reflections. Even where they have misread me, I am grateful for the exploration of my arguments and the assessment of their weaknesses. They have shown how to be clearer. The contributors to this volume, I hope, will recognize in this essay my debt to them for this exchange, even when I respond to correct their misimpressions and to criticize their criticisms. I especially owe thanks to Brendan P. Minogue, Gabriel Palmer-Fernández, and James E. Reagan, for the conference out of which this volume developed, for this volume itself, for their friendship and collegiality, and for the great joy I have taken in exploring ideas with them over the years.2
