What is it to do good medical ethics? On the concepts of 'good' and 'goodness' in medical ethics.

In his book The Varieties of Goodness Georg Henrik von Wright advocates that a useful preliminary to the study of the word 'good' is to compile a list of familiar uses and try to group them under some main headings. The present paper aims at exploring the question, 'What is it to do good medical ethics?', and notably from the vantage point of everyday expressions of the word 'good' and von Wright's grouping of them into six different types of goodness. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.