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185366

Pragmatism and pragmata

Peter-Paul Verbeek(DesignLab, Universiteit Leiden)

pp. 119-123

Abstract

One of the greatest dangers to pragmatism is relativism, as I freely translate Glenn McGee's statement in his contribution to this volume. Pragmatist bioethics too easily sets aside questions about the foundations of knowledge. Ethical decisions are unavoidably made on the basis of knowledge about the situation in which we find ourselves, and therefore this basis deserves serious consideration. As McGee states: "The most important component of a genuine pragmatic bioethics is its ability to take seriously how difficult but unavoidable a challenge it is to "know' those things about which there is much genuine disagreement, yet on the basis of which one must take important action".

Publication details

Published in:

Keulartz Jozef, Korthals Michiel, Schermer Maartje, Swierstra Tsjalling (2002) Pragmatist ethics for a technological culture. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 119-123

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-010-0301-8_9

Full citation:

Verbeek Peter-Paul (2002) „Pragmatism and pragmata“, In: J. Keulartz, M. Korthals, M. Schermer & T. Swierstra (eds.), Pragmatist ethics for a technological culture, Dordrecht, Springer, 119–123.