Rights, not duties: the cognitive content of modern morality

Abstract

The normative content of modernity underlies the distinction between morality and ethics, as well as, in the theory of justice, the priority of right over the good. The normativity so conceived departs from the incommensurable pluralism of doctrines and conceptions of the good. However, the right to freedom that grounds the political liberal consensus is not a sufficient basis to account for decisions acceptable to all in matters of bioethics. Therefore, two alternatives are available, that of a modus vivendi among the various doctrines and that of a procedural position. It is suggested that only the latter can support a reasonable consensus among the various incommensurable doctrines.