Ethics and bioethics in undergraduate medical: a proposal

Abstract

Modern ethics, with its rationalism, has resulted in a dialectic between deontologism and teleologism that fragments practical reasoning into two dimensions: intuitive-transcendental and calculator-utilitarian. Inflexibility and casuistry are a consequence of this philosophy which vainly tries to give a foundation to duty. For modern philosophy, the first thing is the law, the principles from which obligations arise. Classical philosophy, on the other hand, penetrates into the nature of man and thus knows, better and better each day, the true good for the human person. It is a question of manifesting the "must be" from the "being," the ethics from the knowledge of the metaphysics of the act of being, thus overcoming the "naturalist fallacy." The appreciation and respect of the person as a subject who possesses a supreme value is what underpins this anthropologically-based ethics. Based on the foundation of ethics and bioethics in the philosophy of the being and anthropology, but not limited exclusively to a bioethical approach that disregards the contributions of other currents. For the study of medicine, we propose a humanistic plan that includes courses in philosophy, anthropology, ethics, and bioethics. This plan is mainly worked on in the early years of training but continues throughout the study of medical sciences and is completes, at the end, with the clinical courses. At the same time, the proposal goes beyond the teaching of the subjects per se and goes across the entire curriculum. The integral education that is sought for the medical student is not obtained only with the existence of certain subjects or credits, but it is guaranteed by the teaching work of all.