Relational approaches in bioethics: A guide to their differences

Mercer Gary

doi:10.1111/bioe.13200

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Relational approaches in bioethics: A guide to their differences

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Relational approaches in bioethics: A guide to their differences

Mercer Gary

Bioethics, v 37(8), pp 733-740

01 Oct 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.13200

PMID: 37436075

Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel

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https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.13200View

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Abstract

Biomedical Social Sciences

Ethics

Life Sciences & Biomedicine

Medical Ethics

Science & Technology

Social Issues

Social Sciences

Social Sciences - Other Topics

Social Sciences, Biomedical

Contemporary critical approaches to bioethics increasingly present themselves as "relational," though the meaning of relationality and its implications for bioethics seem to be many and varying. I argue that this confusion is due to a multiplicity of relational approaches originating from distinct theoretical lineages. In this article, I identify four key differences among commonly referenced relational approaches: the scope and nature of relationships considered, the extent of the determining influence on individual selfhood, and the integrity of individual selfhood. Importantly, these four differences carry consequences for the usage of relational approaches within academic and clinical bioethics. I show that these differences attach to multiple objects of critique within mainstream bioethics and imply distinct metaethical commitments. Although I issue a cautionary note about combining relational approaches from distinct lineages, I close by suggesting that many such approaches may have their use, drawing on Susan Sherwin's sense of bioethical theories as lenses.