The authority of the clinical ethicist

Mediator? Moral Expert? Or both! "Discourse Ethics" suggests that consensus provides the foundation for defensible moral norms. Thus in building conse nsus on a moral problem, an ethicist is not just negotiating a compromise b ut is contributing to the construction of moral rules and principles that h ave a genuine claim on us. In this way, not only does expertise on a variet y of moral positions facilitate mediation, but mediation opens the way to a kind of moral expertise.