Empirical and Narrative Ethics
Empirical ethics- study of ethical beliefs, practices, and dilemmas exist in a particular setting
Often use methods from social science to gather data to demonstrate what ethical practices exist in a certain context
Highly descriptive- what ethical beliefs, practices, and dilemmas that occur in a certain population/setting
How do certain groups hold beliefs that differ from 4 principles?
Tension between empirical and normative ethics, but we can use them together
May also document beliefs not reflected in 4 principles
Casuistry- using case examples to teach us what ethical behavior is supposed to be like, similar to empirical ethics
But not trying to describe ethical trends across a larger set
Narrative ethics- reflection on particular stories to teach us about what “ethical” action may look like
Interested in what ethical values/dilemmas matter in a specific context regardless if they’re a specified principle or not
Interested in sequence- sequence of events, why someone made a certain decision, what consequences came about bc of it?
3 types of stories
Quest- having illness changes/transforms the patient in some way
Restitution- patient is restored to full health
Chaos- no clear resolution for patient, often case for chronic and/or incurable illness
Mattering maps- what things/values matter to different individuals/parties in the situation (clinicians, patient, etc.)
Four components of mattering maps
Voice- Who’s telling the story and why?
Character- Who’s the story about?
Plot- What is the sequence of events? How has illness disrupted someone’s life vision?
Resolution- How does the story end and are individuals happy with ending?
Differs from empirical ethics
Narrative ethics uses literature stories instead of gathering data from a population
Differs from casuistry
Interested in how people make moral decisions instead of finding generalizable from case examples
Empirical ethics- study of ethical beliefs, practices, and dilemmas exist in a particular setting
Often use methods from social science to gather data to demonstrate what ethical practices exist in a certain context
Highly descriptive- what ethical beliefs, practices, and dilemmas that occur in a certain population/setting
How do certain groups hold beliefs that differ from 4 principles?
Tension between empirical and normative ethics, but we can use them together
May also document beliefs not reflected in 4 principles
Casuistry- using case examples to teach us what ethical behavior is supposed to be like, similar to empirical ethics
But not trying to describe ethical trends across a larger set
Narrative ethics- reflection on particular stories to teach us about what “ethical” action may look like
Interested in what ethical values/dilemmas matter in a specific context regardless if they’re a specified principle or not
Interested in sequence- sequence of events, why someone made a certain decision, what consequences came about bc of it?
3 types of stories
Quest- having illness changes/transforms the patient in some way
Restitution- patient is restored to full health
Chaos- no clear resolution for patient, often case for chronic and/or incurable illness
Mattering maps- what things/values matter to different individuals/parties in the situation (clinicians, patient, etc.)
Four components of mattering maps
Voice- Who’s telling the story and why?
Character- Who’s the story about?
Plot- What is the sequence of events? How has illness disrupted someone’s life vision?
Resolution- How does the story end and are individuals happy with ending?
Differs from empirical ethics
Narrative ethics uses literature stories instead of gathering data from a population
Differs from casuistry
Interested in how people make moral decisions instead of finding generalizable from case examples
