# Ontology of doctor and patient relationship and bioethics: from Aristotle’s teleology to Pellegrino’s philosophy of medicine

## TL;DR

This paper explores how combining Aristotle's ethics with Pellegrino's philosophy of medicine can provide a deeper understanding of the doctor-patient relationship in bioethics.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a novel ontological framework for bioethics by integrating Aristotle's teleology with Pellegrino's philosophy of medicine.

## Key findings

- Aristotle's practical ethics and Pellegrino's philosophy offer a new ontological basis for bioethics.
- The doctor-patient relationship is central to this framework, emphasizing its unique nature.
- The paper also addresses challenges and criticisms of this integrated model.

## Abstract

Some philosophical and metaethical theories have tried to provide a fundamental background for bioethics but miss the fundamental question about what medicine is, its nature and its end. We argue that the philosophy of medicine, through the development that Edmund Pellegrino and David Thomasma gave to this field of study, allied with Aristotle’s practical and teleological ethics, can provide an ontological background for bioethics beyond the tradition of principles and deontology, with particular emphasis on the uniqueness of the doctor-patient encounter. Some difficulties and criticisms of this ontological model are also examined.