https://doi.org/10.4081/mem.2019.579
Too sick for drugs. Too knotty for principles. Scientific research, ethics and cinema
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Authors
A narrative approach to biomedical ethics helps to prevent conceptual abstractions and moralistic deductions, even within the context of the dilemmas raised by pharmacological research. Ethical principles cannot be mechanically applied to concrete situations. First of all, we need to discern the meaning of an action in the light of the whole human story in which this action is inscribed. Moreover, the various ethical theories (which link, structure and prioritize principles) rest on original stories, on visions of the world, which outline ideal examples of behavior. This article specifies each ethical principle, comparing it to cinematographic plots and literary images, in order to verify the pertinence of the rules and judgments formulated regarding problematic aspects of scientific investigation. These films usefully trace social representations and emotionally complex individual experiences, preparing a public debate and responsible deliberation.
How to Cite
PAGEPress has chosen to apply the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to all manuscripts to be published.
An Open Access Publication is one that meets the following two conditions:
- the author(s) and copyright holder(s) grant(s) to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, transmit and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works, in any digital medium for any responsible purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship, as well as the right to make small numbers of printed copies for their personal use.
- a complete version of the work and all supplemental materials, including a copy of the permission as stated above, in a suitable standard electronic format is deposited immediately upon initial publication in at least one online repository that is supported by an academic institution, scholarly society, government agency, or other well-established organization that seeks to enable open access, unrestricted distribution, interoperability, and long-term archiving.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.