Bioethics and Conceptual Ethics in the Disability Rights Movement

Abstract

This article reviews the ethics of concepts as a way of revising and re-evaluating the current uses of 'expressive means of language.' Conceptual ethics and the closely related to it conceptual engineering are parts of ameliorative line in contemporary philosophy. Conceptual ethics and conceptual engineering both stipulate that concepts are not just ways of naming things and events, but can become an instrument for improving social practices. Conceptual ethics and conceptual engineering extend philosophical activity beyond the description of reality and the identification of normative attitudes to improve or correct the functioning of the social structure. This takes place by identifying a defect in the workings of a concept, which may consist not only of morally negative assumptions, but also of its blurring, leading to unacceptable consequences. Conceptual ethics distance itself from moral philosophy. Some authors consider conceptual ethics the first, or ‘diagnostic’ stage of conceptual engineering. Another component is conceptual activism. The difference between conceptual ethics and conceptual activism is illustrated by the example of changes in the concept 'disability.' We show that the changes in this concept proposed by disability rights activists has been the subject of evaluation within bioethical debates. In this way, bioethics has shaped the framework for conceptual changes and developed forms of combining or translating non-medical and medical models of ‘disability’. In this regard, we assume that the social significance of bioethics, as well as neuroethics, digital ethics, and technoethics extends beyond the regulation of new technologies and the monitoring of dissemination of new techno-­social practices. These interdisciplinary fields turn out to be a sort of testing ground for concepts where new forms of conceptual harmonization and translation emerge. Therefore, such testing grounds coordinate the activity of state and public institutions, as well as individual social groups.