Abracadabra: The Magic of Bioethics' Rhetoric Revealed

Tod Chambers's Redescribing Bioethics: How the Field Constructs Its Arguments reveals the rhetorical techniques that bioethicists, especially those from philosophy and religious studies, use in proving that their theory is the best solution to ethical issues in health and medicine. Like magicians, bioethicists have a pledge, turn, and prestige in presenting their work: they show an audience the case problem, hold that the extraordinary is actually ordinary, and then say that their approach is the only way through the moral morass. Rather than being original, Chambers argues, bioethicists compete on who is the better poet. This book review essay asks whether bioethicists are aware of their tools of persuasion or whether their techniques are simply part of the hidden practices of the field. By exposing the rhetoric of bioethics, Chambers's work makes clear why bioethics has become boring and is in need of some new tricks .