Kantian Conscientious Objection: A Reply to Kennette.
Ryan KulesaPublished in: Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics : CQ : the international journal of healthcare ethics committees (2022)
In her paper, "The cost of conscience: Kant on conscience and conscientious objection," Jeanette Kennette argues that a Kantian view of conscientious objection in medicine would bar physicians from refusing to perform certain practices based on conscience. I offer a response in the following manner: First, I reconstruct her main argument; second, I present a more accurate picture of Kant's view of conscience. I conclude that, given a Kantian framework, a physician should be allowed to refuse to perform practices that break the moral law and, thus, refuse practices that violate her conscience.