Autonomy Deadlock and Bioethical Principlism.
This article critically examines the role of autonomy within the four-principle framework of bioethics—comprising autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice—as originally articulated by Tom Beauchamp and James Childress. It argues that the prevailing "thin" conception of autonomy, which trea...
| Publicado en: | American Journal of Bioethics Vol. 26; no. 3; pp. 52 - 57 |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Mar2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=192252874&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 192252874 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 15265161 FKZ jtl: American Journal of Bioethics issn: 15265161 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Mar2026 vid: 26 iid: 3 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania artinfo: ui: 192252874 10.1080/15265161.2026.2623871 192252874 ppf: 52 ppct: 5 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Autonomy Deadlock and Bioethical Principlism. aug: au: Harris, Jack affil: North Carolina State University sug: subj: Autonomy Bioethics Ethics Ethics, Medical Decision Making, Clinical Patient Rights ab: This article critically examines the role of autonomy within the four-principle framework of bioethics—comprising autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice—as originally articulated by Tom Beauchamp and James Childress. It argues that the prevailing "thin" conception of autonomy, which treats it as a defeasible and commensurable principle balanced against the others, leads to deliberative deadlock due to autonomy’s infinite availability, ambiguous normative valence, and lack of a clear metric for weighing its importance. The article suggests that autonomy should be reconceptualized not as a competing principle but as a foundational condition that structures and enables the application of the other principles, thereby avoiding stalemates and enhancing ethical deliberation in biomedical contexts. This reframing calls for a "thicker" account of autonomy that integrates considerations of beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice within its scope. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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