%0 Journal Article %A Toni C Saad %T Conscientious objection: unmasking the impartial spectator %D 2019 %R 10.1136/medethics-2019-105698 %J Journal of Medical Ethics %P 677-678 %V 45 %N 10 %X Hoping to bring some objectivity to the debate, Ben-Moshe has argued that conscientious objection in medicine should be accommodated based on its concordance with the ‘impartial spectator’, a metaphor for conscience drawn from the writings of Adam Smith. This response finds fault with this account on two fronts: first, that its claim to objectivity is unsubstantiated; second, that it implicitly relies on moral absolutes, despite claiming that conscience is a social construct, thereby calling its coherence and claims into question. Briefly, a traditional account of conscience is then described, before ending with a related thesis for future discussion. %U https://jme.bmj.com/content/medethics/45/10/677.full.pdf