Biological invasions cause many impacts that differ widely in how they are perceived. We argue that many conflicts in the valuation of the impacts of alien species are attributable to differences in the framing of the issue and implicit assumptions—such conflicts are often not acknowledged. We present 13 principles that can help guide valuation and therefore inform the management of alien speci...

Tom Beauchamp and James Childress have always maintained that their four principles approach (otherwise known as principlism) is a globally applicable framework for biomedical ethics. This claim is grounded in their belief that the principles of respect for autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence and justice form part of a 'common morality', or collection of very general norms to which everyone ...

General principles are abstract rules intended to guide decision makers in making normative judgments in domains like law, politics, and ethics. It is difficult, however, if not impossible to define principles in an intensional manner so that they may be applied deductively. The problem is the gap between abstract, open-textured principles and concrete facts. On the other hand, when expert deci...

The popularity of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) raises a range of ethical issues for practicing clinicians. Principles of biomedical ethics define obligations of health care professionals, but applying principles in particular cases at the interface of CAM and biomedicine may be particularly challenging. "Recognition of medical pluralism" can help clinicians' ethical deliberation...

OBJECTIVE Review the most relevant ethical issues of the tripartite aspects on which forensic psychiatry is based: expert activity, treatment of the mentally ill in prisons, and research on prisoner subjects. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The principles of General Medical Ethics and those of Forensic Medical Ethics are discriminated and confronted and the steps the psychiatrist should take both as a...