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Abstract
It is hypothesised and argued that "the four principles of medical ethics" can explain
and justify, alone or in combination, all the substantive and universalisable claims
of medical ethics and probably of ethics more generally. A request is renewed for
falsification of this hypothesis showing reason to reject any one of the principles
or to require any additional principle(s) that can't be explained by one or some combination
of the four principles. This approach is argued to be compatible with a wide variety
of moral theories that are often themselves mutually incompatible. It affords a way
forward in the context of intercultural ethics, that treads the delicate path between
moral relativism and moral imperialism. Reasons are given for regarding the principle
of respect for autonomy as "first among equals", not least because it is a necessary
component of aspects of the other three. A plea is made for bioethicists to celebrate
the approach as a basis for global moral ecumenism rather than mistakenly perceiving
and denigrating it as an attempt at global moral imperialism.