ABSTRACT
A consensus on methodological issues in bioethics seems an unlikely accomplishment, because people treat method in several ways. The history of method in biomedical ethics is a fascinating one and is a story showing that practice can guide theory in ethical deliberations. Balancing and interpreting these or similar commonsense concepts is the key to the major approaches in bioethics. The goals and the process of character development are usually considered communal in nature. The four-principles approach divides the three principles of the Belmont Report into four prima facie duties and gives us several useful 'prudential maxims' to assure that the ethicist does not neglect alternative strategies in balancing the mid-level concepts. As Dena Davis has hinted, the real problems of multiculturalism are empirical. There are ramifications of articulating this framework, both for those within bioethics' mainstream and for those who would seek to undermine the consensus.
