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Using the Imagination in Normative Moral Reasoning Around the Principle of Double Effect to Foster Doctrinal Development in Catholic Bioethics

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Dealing with Bioethical Issues in a Globalized World

Part of the book series: Advancing Global Bioethics ((AGBIO,volume 14))

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Abstract

The essay explores how the imagination contributes to moral normativity. The purpose is not to argue that the imagination provides a particular mode of reasoning. It does not. Rather, the imagination can present riveting images based on practical experience that facilitate reasons to coalesce around a conclusion. This presents what can be seen as a common sense view of moral normativity. The experience of marriage or belief in God can be illustrative of reaching certitude even when demonstrative proof is not feasible. In this process, the imagination must always be accountable to reasoning. Also, the dynamic nature of experiential images can inspire action, contrasting with abstract modes of moral normativity that may appear detached from accompanying action. The analysis suggests that the abstract process of formal reasoning adopted in the classical principle of double effect can be enhanced by a role for the imagination. The role facilitates personal and practical reasoning to coalesce around insight and moral conclusions that can be explained further using the abstract process of double effect reasoning. This approach can foster doctrinal development in Catholic bioethics. The religious epistemology and theological method of John Henry Newman (1801–1890) are discussed to provide a theoretical explanation of this interaction between the imagination and reasoning as a distinctive contribution to moral normativity.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Pope John Paul II (1993), number 4.

  2. 2.

    Pope John Paul II (1993), number 75.

  3. 3.

    Kelly et al. (2013).

  4. 4.

    Mangan (1949); Knauer (1967); Janssens (1972); Keenan (1993); Kaczor (1998).

  5. 5.

    Lysaught (2011), 538; Touhey (2011), 8.

  6. 6.

    Code of canon Law (1983).

  7. 7.

    U.S. Bishops (2009), number 45.

  8. 8.

    U.S. Bishops (2009), number 47.

  9. 9.

    Magill (2011).

  10. 10.

    Pius XII (1951), 859; Liebard (1978), 127.

  11. 11.

    U.S. Bishops (2010).

  12. 12.

    Pope John Paul II (1995), number 73.

  13. 13.

    Kelly et al. (2013), chapter 24.

  14. 14.

    Abelson (1977); Gardner (1982); Johnson (1987); Johnson (1993); Kaufman (1981); Lovibond (1983); Mackey (1986); McIntyre (1987); Ricoeur (1995); Tracy (1981); Warnock (1976).

  15. 15.

    Pope Paul VI (1968), number 12 & 14.

  16. 16.

    Pope Paul VI (1968), number 15.

  17. 17.

    Pope John Paul II (1995), number 56; Catechism (2000), number 2267.

  18. 18.

    Pope John Paul II (1995), 55.

  19. 19.

    Pope John Paull II (1994), number 4.

  20. 20.

    Newman (1870a).

  21. 21.

    Newman (1843).

  22. 22.

    Newman (1870a), 316.

  23. 23.

    Newman (1870a), 121.

  24. 24.

    Newman (1870a), 65–65, 390,

  25. 25.

    Newman (1870a), 259.

  26. 26.

    Newman (1843), 256, 263.

  27. 27.

    Newman (1870a), 95–96.

  28. 28.

    Newman (1843), 274.

  29. 29.

    Newman (1864b), 126.

  30. 30.

    Newman (1870a), 327.

  31. 31.

    Newman (1870a), 329, 411.

  32. 32.

    Newman (1870a), 317.

  33. 33.

    Newman (1870a), 325–326.

  34. 34.

    Newman (1870a), 318; (1864b), 146

  35. 35.

    Newman (1870a), 354–356.

  36. 36.

    Newman (1870a), 93.

  37. 37.

    Newman (1870a), 77.

  38. 38.

    Newman (1870a), 356.

  39. 39.

    Newman (1870a), 355.

  40. 40.

    Newman (1870a), 360–361.

  41. 41.

    Newman (1864a).

  42. 42.

    Newman (1870a), 92–93.

  43. 43.

    Newman (1870a), 117.

  44. 44.

    Newman (1870a), 10–11.

  45. 45.

    Newman (1870a), 105–106.

  46. 46.

    Newman (1870a), 110.

  47. 47.

    Newman (1870a), 113–114.

  48. 48.

    Newman (1896), 247.

  49. 49.

    Newman (1896), 253.

  50. 50.

    Fuchs (1983), 101.

  51. 51.

    Newman (1859), 103.

  52. 52.

    Newman (1859), 63.

  53. 53.

    Newman (1859), 55.

  54. 54.

    Newman (1867), 254.

  55. 55.

    Newman (1864a), 110.

  56. 56.

    Newman (1877), xlvii.

  57. 57.

    Newman (1864a): 447.

  58. 58.

    Newman (1864a), 416.

  59. 59.

    Newman (1844), 427.

  60. 60.

    Tristram (1957), 272.

  61. 61.

    Newman (1864a), 239.

  62. 62.

    Newman (1870b), 18.

  63. 63.

    Newman (1870b), 166.

  64. 64.

    Newman (1871), 310.

  65. 65.

    Newman (1874), 261.

  66. 66.

    Newman (1874), 243.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Healthcare Ethics, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Gerard Magill

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  1. Gerard Magill
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Correspondence to Gerard Magill .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Healthcare Ethics, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Joris Gielen

Suggested Readings

Suggested Readings

  • Banner, M. 2016. Ethics of Everyday Life: Moral Theology, Social Anthropology, and the Imagination of the Human. New York: Oxford University Press.

  • Greeley, Andrew. 2001. The Catholic Imagination. Berkeley: University of California Press.

  • Jennings, W.J. 2011. The Christian Imagination. New Haven: Yale University Press.

  • Kaag, J. 2014. Thinking Through the Imagination. Aesthetics in Human Cognition. New York: Fordham University Press.

  • Kieran, M., and Lopes, D., eds. 2012. Imagination, Philosophy and the Arts. London: Routledge.

  • Kind, A. 2016. The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Imagination. London: Routledge.

  • Magill, G. 2015. The Religious Morality of John Henry Newman. Hermeneutics of the Imagination. New York: Springer.

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Magill, G. (2020). Using the Imagination in Normative Moral Reasoning Around the Principle of Double Effect to Foster Doctrinal Development in Catholic Bioethics. 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_5

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