Abstract
It is no longer news that philosophers specializing in ethics have begun to serve as consultants, in hospitals and courtrooms for example. What is not now as clear as it should be is the source of the authority these new specialists claim on matters ethical. What is it they can bring to puzzlement? Should laymen defer to their superior judgment and, if so, why? At trial, expert witnesses must establish their qualifications in court before they will be allowed to weigh in on legal controversies. Using a single court case as a paradigm, I will reflect on the intellectual foundations of the work of the expert ethics witness and argue for the clarity that ethics expertise can bring to consequential perplexity.
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Suggested Readings
Suggested Readings
The selections listed below elaborate further on the themes developed in this article.
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Kenneth, Kipnis. 1986. Legal Ethics. Prentice-Hall.
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This a philosophical overview of the ethical dimension of legal practice.
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Kenneth, Kipnis. 2012. Social Justice and Correctional Health Services. In Medicine and Social Justice, ed. Rosamond Rhodes, Peggy Battin and Anita Silvers. Oxford University Press.
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Health care professionals working in prisons have obligations as doctors and nurses but also have separate duties as employees of the prison system. Who has responsibility for prison health care? How are conflicts between prison warden directives and professional obligations to be understood and managed?
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Kenneth, Kipnis. 2008. Medical Confidentiality. In Blackwell Guide to Medical Ethics, ed. L. Francis, R. Rhodes and A. Silver. Blackwell Publishing.
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An argument for a very strong obligation for medical confidentiality.
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Kenneth, Kipnis. 2009. The Certified Clinical Ethics Consultant. In HEC Forum, 249–61.
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Focusing on the embryonic field of clinical ethics consultation, an overview of the process of transforming an occupation into a profession.
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Kipnis, K. (2020). The Authority of the Ethics Consultant. In: Gielen, J. (eds) Dealing with Bioethical Issues in a Globalized World . Advancing Global Bioethics, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30432-4_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30432-4_13
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