Clouser K D, Gert B
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey 17033.
J Med Philos. 1990 Apr;15(2):219-36. doi: 10.1093/jmp/15.2.219.
The authors use the term "principlism" to refer to the practice of using "principles" to replace both moral theory and particular moral rules and ideals in dealing with the moral problems that arise in medical practice. The authors argue that these "principles" do not function as claimed, and that their use is misleading both practically and theoretically. The "principles" are in fact not guides to action, but rather they are merely names for a collection of sometimes superficially related matters for consideration when dealing with a moral problem. The "principles" lack any systematic relationship to each other, and they often conflict with each other. These conflicts are unresolvable, since there is no unified moral theory from which they are all derived. For comparison the authors sketch the advantages of using a unified moral theory.
作者使用“原则主义”一词来指代在处理医学实践中出现的道德问题时，运用“原则”来取代道德理论以及特定道德规则和理想的做法。作者认为，这些“原则”并未如所宣称的那样发挥作用，而且它们的使用在实践和理论上都具有误导性。这些“原则”实际上并非行动指南，而仅仅是在处理道德问题时需要考虑的一系列有时表面上相关的事项的名称。这些“原则”相互之间缺乏任何系统的关系，而且它们常常相互冲突。由于不存在从中推导出来所有这些原则的统一道德理论，所以这些冲突无法解决。为作比较，作者简述了使用统一道德理论的优点。
