ANTIFOUNDATIONALISM AND THE POSSIBILITY OF A MORAL-PHILOSOPHY OF MEDICINE

The problem of developing a moral philosophy of medicine is explored i n this essay. Among the challenges posed to this development are the g eneral mistrust of moral philosophy and philosophy in general created by post-modernist philosophical and even anti-philosophical thinking. This reaction to philosophical systematization is usually called antif oundationalism. I distinguish different forms of antifoundationalism, showing that not all forms of their opposites, foundationalism, are al ike, especially with regards to claims made about the certitude of mor al thought. I conclude that we are correct to mistrust absolutist prin ciples in a moral philosophy of medicine, but can find some center wit hin the practice of medicine itself for a moral foundation.