Theoretical Grounds of Bioethical Considerations (Consequentalist and Deontological Solutions to Moral Dilemmas)

Theoretical part of this article includes presentation of a few chosen ethical positions, which may variously imply moral decisions: natural law, utilitarianism, consequentalism, deontology and ethics of obligations prima facie. Empirical part presents results of questionnaire research made on 100 students of sociology and 170 students of medicine on the subject of their opinions on: abortion, euthanasia, transplants from the dead and embryos, cloning of cells and persons, genetics engineering, contraception and pre-natal tests. The research results lead to analysis of explanations of decisions of students. They represented two main ethical positions: consequentalist and deontological one, with the majority of the first position