Heilig Charles M, Weijer Charles
Division of Reproductive Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341-371 7, USA.
Clin Trials. 2005;2(3):244-53. doi: 10.1191/1740774505cn084oa.
The notions of individual and collective ethics were first explicitly defined in the biostatistical literature in 1971 to motivate a mathematical solution to a posed ethical dilemma. This paper reviews key antecedents to these concepts and traces explicit references to them over time, primarily in the biostatistical literature. Following a historical exposition of these texts, a critical thematic analysis shows the following: the normative force of these concepts has not been adequately argued. Individual and collective ethics do not solve the problem of how to use accumulating data to inform ethical action. The notions of the "individual" and the "collective" are too vague to prompt clear moral imperatives, especially in difficult cases. These concepts have not been successfully linked to a standard ethical framework. Finally, the paper concludes with the observation that a systematic, comprehensive ethical framework must be identified to fulfill the intuitions behind individual and collective ethics.
个体伦理和集体伦理的概念于1971年首次在生物统计学文献中得到明确界定，以推动对所提出的伦理困境的数学解决方案。本文回顾了这些概念的关键前身，并追溯了随着时间推移对它们的明确提及，主要是在生物统计学文献中。在对这些文本进行历史阐述之后，一项批判性的主题分析表明：这些概念的规范力量尚未得到充分论证。个体伦理和集体伦理并未解决如何利用不断积累的数据为伦理行动提供信息的问题。“个体”和“集体”的概念过于模糊，无法促使明确的道德命令，尤其是在困难的情况下。这些概念尚未成功地与标准的伦理框架相联系。最后，本文得出的结论是，必须确定一个系统、全面的伦理框架，以实现个体伦理和集体伦理背后的直觉。
