{"id":12934,"date":"2019-07-14T22:17:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T05:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12934"},"modified":"2023-02-03T15:49:04","modified_gmt":"2023-02-03T23:49:04","slug":"conscience-moral-reasoning-and-skepticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12934","title":{"rendered":"Conscience, moral reasoning, and skepticism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Larry R Churchill<\/h4>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"162\" height=\"230\" src=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/perspectivesbiologymedicine.jpg\" alt=\"Perspectives in Biology and Medicine\" class=\"wp-image-12648\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Perspectives in Biology and Medicine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Abstract<\/strong><br>There is much to admire in Lauris Kaldjian\u2019s explication of conscience and its uses for medical practitioners. Yet his claim that conscience is the final and best assessment of moral judgments is flawed, because it diminishes the influence of moral reasoning that balances and often corrects conscience. Skepticism about conscientious judgments is an important feature of ethics. Kaldjian\u2019s close linkage of conscience with moral integrity blunts the necessary recognition that one\u2019s conscience can be mistaken. His defense of physician refusals to refer patients gives insufficient weight to the idea that patients\u2019 actions in seeking services may also reflect conscientious judgments. Analyses of cases near the end of this essay present no problems with respecting physicians\u2019 conscientious refusals to provide services themselves, but they also mostly leave moral room for physicians to make referrals. Examination of these cases suggests other ways to resolve moral conflicts than recourse to one\u2019s conscience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Churchill LR. <a href=\"https:\/\/muse.jhu.edu\/article\/732237\">Conscience, moral reasoning, and skepticism<\/a>. Perspect Biol Med. 2019 Summer;62(3):519-526. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Larry R Churchill AbstractThere is much to admire in Lauris Kaldjian\u2019s explication of conscience and its uses for medical practitioners. Yet his claim that conscience is the final and best assessment of moral judgments is flawed, because it diminishes the influence of moral reasoning that balances and often corrects conscience. Skepticism about conscientious judgments is &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12934\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Conscience, moral reasoning, and skepticism&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[554,2,659,1646],"tags":[1715,1794,1293],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-12934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics","category-journal-article","category-philosophy","category-referral","tag-erroneous-conscience","tag-larry-r-churchill","tag-lauris-kaldjian"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>Conscience, moral reasoning, and skepticism - Protection of Conscience Project Library<\/title>\r\n<meta 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