TY - JOUR T1 - Notes on substantance in orthodox theory: a reply to Badano JF - Journal of Medical Ethics JO - J Med Ethics SP - 275 LP - 276 DO - 10.1136/medethics-2018-105030 VL - 45 IS - 4 AU - William R Smith Y1 - 2019/04/01 UR - http://jme.bmj.com/content/45/4/275.abstract N2 - Gabriele Badano offers three criticisms of my challenge to the orthodox family of theories of legitimacy in bioethics. First, I assumed an ‘oversimplified version of the orthodoxy’. Second, I failed to appreciate its domain of application. Third, I only addressed the ways in which orthodox theorists incorporate substance as an ‘afterthought’—and, even then, only by rehashing Gopal Sreenivasan’s argument. Here, I respond to each, taking up the first and third before ending with reflections on the second. The first underestimates the insight that criticism of the simplified version provides to that of the more complex relatives. The third misunderstands the relationship between my view and Sreenivasan’s and neglects an entire argument of my paper. The second fails in light of these two, but raises interesting questions about how the method I suggest might be extended to other domains. ER -