Materials

Issue 106: Bauer, Axel: Braucht die Medizin Werte?March 1996

Values as moral standards are semiotic signs either for the past, the present, or the future. Beyond that, they are also subject to a change of meaning which is caused by new social conventions. This thesis will be illustrated with the example of human dignity against the background of relevant bioethical disputes. Cognitivistic, emotivistic, and institutionalistic concepts of metaethics will be introduced after that. We suggest that it may be methodologically fruitful to combine institutionalistic metaethics with evolutionary epistemology, evolutionary ethics, and even with sociobiology. Nevertheless, moral philosophers and physicians should avoid strictly any naturalistic false conclusion.