"Traditional common morality, as its name suggests, comprises ethical principles common to civilized cultures. The notion that there are certain objective principles which societies must respect if they are to qualify as civilized, has been expressed in the West in the Hippocratic Oath, in Judeo-Christian morality, the prohibition against killing the innocent, and the common law... [But] much of modern bioethics is clearly subversive of this tradition of common morality. Rather than promoting respect for universal human values and rights, it systematically seeks to subvert them. In modern bioethics, nothing is, in itself, either valuable or inviolable, except utility."
"A moralidade comum tradicional, como seu nome sugere, compreende princípios éticos comuns às culturas civilizadas. A noção de que há certos princípios objetivos, os quais devem ser respeitados pelas sociedades qualificáveis como civilizadas, tem sido expressada por meio do Juramento de Hipócrates, da moralidade Judaico-Cristã, da proibição contra o assassinato do inocente e da lei comum... [Mas] boa parte da bioética moderna é claramente subversiva em relação a essa tradição de moralidade comum. Ao invés de promover o respeito pelos valores e direitos humanos universais, a bioética moderna busca subvertê-los sistematicamente. Na bioética moderna, nada é, em si mesmo, valioso ou inviolável, a não ser a utilidade."
Entrevista cedida a Wesley Smith reproduzida em: SMITH, Wesley J. Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America. San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2000.
John Keown, DPhil, PhD, DCL
Senior Research Scholar
Dr. Keown is the Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Christian Ethics at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics. Having graduated in law from Cambridge, he took a doctorate at Oxford, after which he was called to the Bar of England and Wales. He soon became the first holder of a newly-created lectureship in the law and ethics of medicine at Cambridge, where he was elected to a Fellowship at Queens' College and, later, a Senior Research Fellowship at Churchill College.
Dr. Keown has published widely in the law and ethics of medicine, specializing on issues at the beginning and end of life. His research has been cited by distinguished bodies worldwide, including the United States Supreme Court, the Law Lords, the Court of Appeal, the House of Commons, the House of Lords Select Committee on Medical Ethics, and the Australian Senate, before which he was invited to testify. In 2011 he testified as an expert witness for the Attorney-General of Canada in a leading case concerning Canada's law against euthanasia. He has served as a member of the Ethics Committee of the British Medical Association and has been regularly consulted, not least by politicians and the media, on legal and ethical aspects of medicine. His latest article 'A Right to Voluntary Euthanasia? Confusion in Canada in Carter' was recently published in the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy (2014).
Dr. Keown has written a play based on one of the classic cases in bioethics: the trial of Dr. Leonard Arthur for the attempted murder of a newborn baby with Down's syndrome. He has also developed an interest in the ethics of war. His 2009 paper in the Journal of Catholic Social Thought was the first to consider whether America's War for Independence satisfied the criteria laid down by the 'just war' tradition.
