Medical humanities
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This paper addresses a current debate in the bioethics community between principlists, who consider that principles are at the heart of moral life, and narrativists, who see communication at its core. Using a case study entitled "The forgetful mourner" to introduce the tensions between each of these positions, I go on to explain the central tenets of both principlism and narrative ethics. ⋯ My ultimate aim is to identify the, sometimes overlapping, skills that both principlism and narrative ethics require on the part of health professionals who deploy them. I conclude that a good principlist has narrativist tendencies and a good narrativist is inclined toward principlism.