Elisabeth Conradi, Nikola Biller-Andorno, Margarete Boos, Christina Sommer and Claudia Wiesemann

Gender in medical ethics: Re-examining the conceptual basis of empirical research

Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy

Discusses the challenges of integrating gender aspects into medical ethics without sustaining gender stereotypes, and suggests a conceptual basis for empirical research from social psychology. First, L. Kohlberg's theory of moral development and C. Gilligan's introduction of the gender perspective on morality are introduced, and the problems associated with an ethics of care are outlined. Then, approaches from social psychology are introduced, which allow a view of morality as dependent on social relationships: the social-identity approach and identity theory. A gendered perspective combined with a sensitivity to social relationships is therefore proposed as an empirical approach to medical morality.

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