Synthesis philosophica, Vol. 39 No. 2, 2024.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21464/sp39215
When Bioethicists “Walk the Talk”! The Integrative Role and Importance of Ethical Leadership in Bioethics
Martina Šendula Pavelić
; University of Rijeka, Faculty of Health Studies, Department of Public Health
Igor Eterović
orcid.org/0000-0002-2232-0289
; University of Rijeka, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Social Sciences and Medical Humanities, Braće Branchetta 20, HR–51000 Rijeka
Abstract
There is probably no discipline which requires the element of activism and the need for provision of role models in normative issues than bioethics. The mere nature of this propulsive discipline theoretically, by promotion of interdisciplinarity, and practically, by addressing important ethical issues and striving to integrate all given perspectives including those effectively present in everyday life, points in that direction. Integrative bioethics is even more emphatic concerning the required integration of the mentioned perspectives. Ethical leadership is a content rich and norms-oriented concept which could play a fundamental role in finding a key of true integration of theory and practice of bioethics. There are almost no serious discussions and investigations of the possibilities of using the well elaborated psychological research on leadership for such purposes. This article should fill that gap providing conclusive evidence for identifying and illuminating the importance of ethical leadership in bioethical enterprises. Moreover, it is argued that without ethical leadership bioethicists can be suspected as losing the essence of their professional identity. In pointing to research addressing different aspects of ethical leadership we build a framework for the analogous leadership in the field of bioethics. By widening the theoretical framework with philosophical and psychological analysis we specify some necessary features for such a special kind of normative leadership. Finally, we argue that further dissemination of these ideas provides fruitful theoretical and practical grounds for the identification of these basic features of bioethical leadership as the most important standards of a bioethicist’s work and behaviour.
Keywords
bioethics; ethical leadership; integrative bioethics; psychology
Hrčak ID:
342346
URI
Publication date:
29.12.2024.
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