Why solutions continue to elude us

Three issues addressed in Robert Weir's book Selective Nontreatment of Handicapped Newborns raise important questions about the social and political context of moral judgment, and the relation of moral judgment to moral theory. (1) Arguments to the effect that infants are not moral 'persons' as we normally understand the concept of personhood, illuminate the dialectical relationship between sound, confident moral judgments and moral theories. (2) The way we describe and label decisions to offer or not to offer particular treatments to specific individuals has political and moral consequences. In general, we should opt for descriptions that display, rather than conceal, the problematic and controversial aspects of our decisions. (3) The active killing of patients can only be defended from the narrowest viewpoint of minimizing that individual's suffering. It ignores the requirements made of other moral actors, and it fails to acknowledge a number of important facts about social institutions. Workable solutions must be attentive to the political and social context of moral dilemmas.