Moving on, the discussion centers upon the main methodological movements in bioethics’ relatively short history: its appeal to high moral theory, the emergence of mid-level approaches to bioethics, and approaches to bioethics that attribute a lesser role to theoretical tools, or no role at all.

Examples of ethical theories that have been put to work in bioethics are utilitarianism, 8 Kantian ethics, 9 a rules-based common morality theory, 10 and virtue ethics. 11 Other theoretical approaches to bioethics are distinguished less by the content of their central ethical norms than by their methods for investigating ethical questions.

DeGrazia, David 2022. Some Reflections on the Importance of Philosophy to Bioethics. The American Journal of Bioethics, Vol. 22, Issue. 12, p. 27.

The Oxford Handbook of Bioethics is an authoritative, state-of-the-art guide to current issues in bioethics. Thirty-four contributors reflect the interdisciplinary nature that is characteristic of bioethics, and its increasingly international character.

Typical examples of such theory in bioethics include consequentialism in its various incarnations, including utilitarianism (Singer 1999); contractualism, including Rawlsian theories of justice (Rawls 1971/1999; Kantian-style deontology (Donagan 1977), and libertarian political thought (Engelhardt 1996).