Methodological concerns in bioethics.

Methodological concerns are moving to the top of the bioethics agenda for the next decade. This paper examines some of those concerns: medical ethics as a subset of bioethics versus medical ethics as a subset of professional ethics; a more in-depth examination of some methodological problems in treating medical ethics as professional ethics; the senses in which bioethics constitutes an inquiry into secular undertakings in a pluralistic society; 'federal ethics', the emergence to prominence of public commissions and study groups; and the institutional impact of bioethics on the relationship between medical schools and the liberal arts core of their sponsoring universities.