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Relevance of the rationalist–intuitionist debate for ethics and professionalism in medical education

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Abstract

Despite widespread pedagogical efforts to modify discrete behaviors in developing physicians, the professionalism movement has generally shied away from essential questions such as what virtues characterize the good physician, and how are those virtues formed? Although there is widespread adoption of medical ethics curricula, there is still no consensus about the primary goals of ethics education. Two prevailing perspectives dominate the literature, constituting what is sometimes referred to as the “virtue/skill dichotomy”. The first perspective argues that teaching ethics is a means of providing physicians with a skill set for analyzing and resolving ethical dilemmas. The second perspective suggests that teaching ethics is a means of creating virtuous physicians. The authors argue that this debate about medical ethics education mirrors the Rationalist–Intuitionist debate in contemporary moral psychology. In the following essay, the authors sketch the relevance of the Rationalist–Intuitionist debate to medical ethics and professionalism. They then outline a moral intuitionist model of virtuous caring that derives from but also extends the “social intuitionist model” of moral action and virtue. This moral intuitionist model suggests several practical implications specifically for medical character education but also for health science education in general. This approach proposes that character development is best accomplished by tuning-up (activating) moral intuitions, amplifying (intensifying) moral emotions related to intuitions, and strengthening (expanding) intuition-expressive, emotion-related moral virtues, more than by “learning” explicit ethical rules or principles.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Senior Project Manager, Dr. Kenneth Rasinski and Data Manager, Ms. Annikea Miller for their capable and generous contributions to the project. The authors would also like to thank Mr. Simon Brauer and Ms. Heather Stanke for reviewing this manuscript. Dr. Leffel was also a paid consultant for this project. This project was supported by A New Science of Virtues, The Arête Initiative at the University of Chicago through a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. This project was also supported by pilot grants from the Center of Health Administration Studies, Institute for Translational Medicine (#UL1 RR024999), and the Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence at the University of Chicago.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, CA, USA

    G. Michael Leffel & Ross A. Oakes Mueller

  2. Josiah C. Trent Professor of Medical Humanities, Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities and History of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Farr A. Curlin

  3. Department of Medicine, MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, The University of Chicago, 5841 S. Maryland Ave, MC 5000, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    John D. Yoon

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  1. G. Michael Leffel
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Leffel, G.M., Oakes Mueller, R.A., Curlin, F.A. et al. Relevance of the rationalist–intuitionist debate for ethics and professionalism in medical education. Adv in Health Sci Educ 20, 1371–1383 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-014-9563-z

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