Lindemann Hilde
Perspect Biol Med. 2017;60(1):93-102. doi: 10.1353/pbm.2017.0021.
This essay lays out some of the many resources that a background in literary studies has to offer bioethics. After identifying four useful characteristics of stories, it briefly discusses some kinds of moral work that stories can be put to, including countering ethically undesirable stories and modeling ethically troubling situations. Stories can be invoked in our moral reasoning, compared and parsed, and used to teach moral lessons. They can help us discern which moral concepts are operative in a specific instance. Our personal identities consist of stories, which help us understand who we and other people are. Stories can also be parodied, for political or other effect. Stories can perform these moral functions only to the extent that the persons telling or invoking or parodying them are themselves morally competent. But given that competence, a scholarly grasp of literature and narrative can greatly enhance bioethical reflection.
本文阐述了文学研究背景可为生物伦理学提供的诸多资源中的一些。在确定了故事的四个有用特征后，本文简要讨论了故事可用于的一些道德工作，包括反驳道德上不良的故事以及对道德上令人困扰的情况进行建模。故事可被用于我们的道德推理、比较和剖析，并用于传授道德教训。它们能帮助我们辨别在特定情形中哪些道德概念在起作用。我们的个人身份由故事构成，这些故事帮助我们理解自己以及他人是谁。故事也可被模仿，以达到政治或其他效果。故事只有在讲述、援引或模仿它们的人本身具备道德能力的程度上才能发挥这些道德功能。但鉴于这种能力，对文学和叙事的学术性理解能够极大地增强生物伦理学反思。
