Moral Distress, Disempowerment, and Responsibility

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/pom.2025.210

Keywords:

Moral distress, Responsibility, Disempowerment, Fittingness, Philosophy of emotion

Abstract

Since Andrew Jameton first introduced the concept of moral distress, a growing theoretical literature has attempted to identify its distinctive features. This theoretical work has overlooked a central feature of morally distressing situations: disempowerment. My aim is to correct this neglect by arguing for a new test for theories of moral distress. I call this the disempowerment requirement: a theory of moral distress ought to accommodate the disempowerment of morally distressing situations. I argue for the disempowerment requirement and illustrate how to apply it by showing that recent responsibility-based theories of moral distress fail to pass the test.

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Published

2025-04-15

How to Cite

Bennett, M. (2025). Moral Distress, Disempowerment, and Responsibility. Philosophy of Medicine, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.5195/pom.2025.210

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2025)

Section

Original Research Articles (other)

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Copyright (c) 2025 Matthew Bennett

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