Paul Ramsey's medical ethics is built from a philosophical antinomy: Premise, the human being is a creature of will; Proposition, the human will is a free will; Contrary Proposition, the human will is a not-free will. General, exceptionless rules of conduct function in Ramsey's thought as moral restraint to human freedom. The moral agent ought always to act in accord with the demands of agape; and not only once but as often as the same features of a decision/action arise. General rules guide and restrain human free will in a necessary way to assure an ordered and moral society. This antinomy-interpretation helps locate Ramsey in the theatre of ethical debate; it also is the key to criticism of Ramsey's rigid rules in medical ethics.

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