Abstract

This article evaluates the influence of the modern philosophical ways of thinking on bioethics, especially in the English-speaking countries. We can notice such philosophical methods as theory of principles, virtue theory, casuistry, and theory of contract. The aim of this article is to present the manners in which these methods explain the basic moral concepts. In the most cases they only use one of the philosophical categories, failing to include others. It means that they draw upon ethical concepts as only imperative, or aim, or virtue, or value, or contract. The process of analysing also unveils that their extent is far from the meaning worked out by the traditional, ethical thought. The last part of the article indicates at personalistic concepts of bioethics. It seems to be an adequate remedy for the lack of the mentioned theories. It draws simultaneously upon all the necessary elements of the objective moral order (imperative, aim, virtue, value). The main category of this approach is a concept of the person, which rules over all mentioned ethical factors. It means that the person is a focal point of imperative, aim, virtue and value. It leads to the conclusion that bioethics should develop this foundational idea; however, it is a task shared with the personalistic ethics and anthropology.