Bernard Gert

Bernard Gert (October 16, 1934 – December 24, 2011) was an American moral philosopher renowned for his contributions to normative ethics, particularly his systematic moral theory. He also made significant contributions to medical ethics, especially in the context of psychology. Gert taught at Dartmouth College for fifty years, from 1959 to 2009, and by the time of his death, he was the emeritus Stone Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy at the institution. His academic career also included adjunct and visiting appointments, such as at the University of Edinburgh from 1974-75, and a fellowship at the Hastings Center, a dedicated bioethics research institution. He passed away in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 2011. His work is characterized by its clarity, comprehensiveness, and systematic nature, often praised for offering a robust alternative to dominant ethical frameworks like deontology, utilitarianism, contractarianism, and virtue ethics. Gert's moral theory is built upon the concept of harm, which he defined through five basic evils: death, pain, disability, loss of freedom, and loss of pleasure. He argued that rationality and impartiality are the foundations of morality, positing that it is irrational to avoid harm and that moral rules arise from extending these prohibitions impartially to others. Gert's theory outlines ten moral rules, such as "do not kill" and "do not cause pain," which are not absolute and allow for exceptions determined by a "two-step procedure" that considers both the immediate consequences and the broader implications of violating the rule. He also distinguished between moral rules and moral ideals, with the latter focusing on the positive objective of reducing harm or evil in the world. While sharing some similarities with deontology, rule utilitarianism, and contractarianism, Gert primarily categorized his own theory as a natural law theory in the tradition of Thomas Hobbes.