Foundation of a realistic method for the analysis of Ethics and Bioethics cases

Abstract

Through a bibliographic review of publications in Spanish and English from the last three decades, a critique of the foundations and characteristics of case analysis methods in contemporary Western bioethics is carried out, among which the most relevant for the analysis of bioethical cases and problems turn out to be the Deliberative Method (typical of principlism, consensualism, and utilitarianism) and the Triangular Method (proposed by ontologically based personalism) which present limitations of foundation and practical application, respectively. The author justifies the need to train professionals and students for the analysis of practical cases in Ethics and Bioethics, proposing a new method, the "Realistic Method", which tries to bring together the virtualities and utilities of the deliberative and the triangular, overcoming the deficiencies of both from the approaches of classical realist philosophy and personalist-based anthropology.