Lying to Care for Patients: Hegelian Tragedy or MacIntyrean Triumph?

摘要

The article by Tavaglione and Hurst (2012) takes up the incredibly pertinent and pressing moral issue of "gaming the system," wherein physicians lie in order to obtain medically indicated treatment for their patients. In their argument, the authors refer to the internal morality of medicine most famously explored by Edmund Pellegrino, who draws heavily upon the philosophy of Alisdair Maclntyre. In order to respond to deontological, consequentialist, and utilitarian objections though, the authors resort to a potentially problematic refutation of moral purism they refer to as the idealistic fallacy.