Public Reason and Bioethics: Three Perspectives

Acknowledgments
Contents
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
Part I: The Three Perspectives
	1: Rawlsian Political Liberalism, Public Reason, and Bioethics
		(A)	(A)	 Political Liberalism
			John Rawls
			Comprehensive Doctrine
			Stability and “Reasonable Pluralism”
			The Reasonable
			Political Values
			Overlapping Consensus and Public Reason
			Public Reasons and Admissibility
			Public Reason and Political Conceptions
			The Duty of Civility
			Disagreement Over Religious, Philosophical, and Moral Matters
			Thomas Nagel’s Idea of Public Justification
			The Criterion of Reciprocity
			How to Proceed?
			T. M. Scanlon
		(B)	(B)	 Bioethics
			The Problem of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID)
			The Case for Decriminalizing MAID
			A Religious View
			Slippery Slope Arguments: The Theoretical Version
			Slippery Slope Arguments: The Practical Version
			Abuse and Other Bad Consequences
			Utilitarianism
			Political Utilitarianism vs. “Public Reason” Contractualism
		(C)	(C)	 Concluding Remarks
	2: The Natural Law Tradition, Public Reason, and Bioethics
		1	 A Précis of Natural Law
		2	 Public Reason as Shared Deliberation and Truth-Directed Inquiry
		3	 Natural Law, Legislation, and Public Reason
	3: A Confucian Conception of Public Reason and Bioethics
		1	 Introduction
		2	 Rawls’ Liberal Conception of Public Reason
		3	 Joseph Chan’s Confucian Conception of Public Reason
		4	 Sungmoon Kim’s Confucian Conception of Public Reason
		5	 The Reconstructionist Confucian Conception of Public Reason
		6	 The Bioethical Issue of Medically Assisted Suicide (MAS)
		7	 Concluding Remarks
	4: Replies to Farrell & Tham, and to Fan
		1	 Reply to Farrell and Tham
			Human Telos and Common Good
			Alasdair MacIntyre
			Objections and Replies
			A General Objection to NLT
			Missing Links
			The Hippocratic Oath
		2	 Reply to Fan
			Moral Relativism
			A Distinction: Critical Morality and Positive Morality
			Critical (Bio-)ethics
			Cultural Differences
			Moral Contextualism
			Moral Contexts and Cultural Differences
			Liberalism or Western Theory
			Is Rawls’ Theory Individualistic?
			Should a Confucian Object to MAID?
		3	 Concluding Remarks
	5: Replies to Li and Fan
		1	 Political Liberalism, Public Reason, and Bioethics
		2	 Confucianism, Public Reason, and Bioethics
	6: Replies to Li and Farrell–Tham
	7: Further Reflections
		(A)	(A)	 Political Liberalism: A Synopsis
		(B)	(B)	 Response to Farrell and Tham
			Telos Revisited
			Moral Contextualism and Abortion Revisited
			Moral Disagreement and Scientific Disagreement
		(C)	(C)	 Response to Fan
		(D)	(D)	 Further Reflections
			Confucian Ethics vs. Confucian Public Reason
			Are Universal Basic Rights Western?—Fan’s Puzzlement
			Can Confucianism Cohere with Liberal Ideas or Basic Human Rights?
			Does Confucianism Stabilize Absolute Monarchy?
			The Point of Critical Morality
		(E)	(E)	 Reflection on Rawls
			Scanlon’s Contractualism
			Constitutional Essentials
			Should All Metaphysics Be Excluded?
			Is Political Liberalism Simply the Product of Western Hegemony?
	8: Further Reflections
		1	 Reflections on Li’s Replies
		2	 Reflections on Fan’s Reply
		3	 Closing Reflections
	9: Further Reflections
Part II: Conceptual and Historical Background
	10: Kant’s Conception of Public Reason
		1	 Introduction: Kantian Autonomy and Public Reason
		2	 Humanity as Ground for Laws of Autonomy
		3	 Heteronomy and the Domain of Right
		4	 The Public Use of Reason
		5	 The “Enlightened” Way of Thinking
		6	 “Partakers in Happiness”
		7	 The Double Function of Public Reasoners: Justificatory and Exemplary
		8	 Conclusion
	11: Autonomy, Neutrality, and Perfectionism
		1	 Introduction
		2	 Justificatory Neutrality vs. Consequential Neutrality
		3	 Four Methods of Promoting the Good
		4	 I-Autonomy and C-Autonomy
		5	 Value, Reason, and Autonomy
		6	 Two Autonomy Constraints
		7	 Beyond Neutralism and Perfectionism
		8	 Conclusion
	12: What We Have Reason to Value: Human Capabilities and Public Reason
		1	 Introduction
		2	 Public Reason as Contracting
		3	 Disability Critiques of Contracting
		4	 Public Reason as Human Capabilities
		5	 Public Reasons Beyond Borders
			Contracting
			Capabilities
			Is a Capability View Individualistic or Western Biased?
		6	 Conclusion
	13: Public Reason and the Right to Healthcare
	14: Bioethics and Public Reason: How the History of Bioethics Has Led to the Need for Some Concept of Public Reason
		1	 Introduction
		2	 Origins of Bioethics
		3	 Plurality and Complexity
		4	 A Place for Public Reason?
Bibliography
Index