Abstract

Three approaches to bio-medical ethics are identified: one weighs the values/disvalues of the probable "total" outcome of contemplated actions (value-dominant); the second gives privileged consideration to the likely impact of actions on the "rights" of human subjects involved (obligation-dominant); the third gives pre-eminence to the discretionary judgment of moral actors for the concrete resolution of moral problems (virtue-dominant). The three approaches are clarified through a commentary on the recommendations regarding fetal experimentation of the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects. The recommendations are read as virtue-dominant; the essay in contrast argues for an obligation-dominant perspective.