Abstract

T.L. Beauchamp and J.F. Childress are American bioethicists. They formulated four clusters of principles of biomedical ethics in their book, “The Principles of Biomedical Ethics.” They are the Principle of Respect for Autonomy, the Principle of Non-Maleficence, the Principle of Beneficence, and the Principle of Justice. Beauchamp and Childress also developed their theory of common morality as the source of considered judgments for the principles and the method of bioethics. These principles and common morality are used internationally and successfully. This book has been revised to the seventh edition to allow for improvements. The principles are being used in China, but the understanding of common morality is not enough. This paper studies the implications of common morality. This work is useful for the development of Chinese bioethics.