Ethics and Bioethics

Much of the modern and post-modern project of ethics differs from Catholic ethics in this:  The Church asks (among other things) how can we avoid harming and killing as much as possible and emphasize what makes for human flourishing?  Our culture asks “When do we *get* to harm and kill humans?”  I wish I could say that Catholics are not effected by that mindset.  But depending on which kinds of humans we wish to exempt from the Golden Rule, an awful lot of Catholics approach moral reason in this way.  It’s what governs everything from Nancy Pelosi’s “Augustinian” ruminations on abortion and conservative Catholic discussions of the death penalty, war, and torture.