Abstract

Structuralist ethics is an alternative to utilitarianism and deontology. But it also incorporates these ethical approaches in a larger frame. Rule utilitarianism and rule deontology are correlated to psychological thought factors and phenotypical biological factors. Act utilitarianism and act deontology are correlated to emotive psychological factors and genotypical biological factors. A teleology links all six factors. While the roots of this teleology are Aristotelian, use of the techniques of the linguistics of genetic epistemology provides a working model not only to show the interplay of the six elements but also to provide a pragmatic approach to the practice of medical ethics. Three cases are discussed and the structuralist methodology applied.