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Books

Eliminating the Experts

Jane Singleton reviews The Elimination of Morality: Reflections on Utilitarianism and Bioethics by Anne Maclean.

Almost weekly in the media we are faced with moral dilemmas, often of the most harrowing nature. The latest flurry of examples concern ethical dilemmas at the beginning of life. Ought we to use eggs from aborted fetuses for infertility treatment? If allowed, this would have the rather startling implication that a child born as a result of such treatment would have had a biological mother who had never lived. Is it morally acceptable for a black woman to be carrying a white fetus? Is it right to allow 59 year old women the opportunity of motherhood via infertility treatment? In Germany an eighteen year old who was pronounced clinically dead after a car accident, was kept ‘alive’ in order to give the 15 week fetus, that she was carrying, the chance of life. Was this decision morally acceptable?

Faced with problems like this, we might wonder if there are ‘moral experts’ who can help us solve these dilemmas, just as we consult experts to assist us with car problems, legal problems or financial problems.

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