Bernard Gert (; October 16, 1934 – December 24, 2011) was a moral philosopher known primarily for his work in normative ethics, as well as in medical ethics, especially pertaining to psychology. His work has been called "among the clearest and most comprehensive on the contemporary scene", "far more detailed and more concretely worked out" and "systematic" than competing comprehensive ethical theories. Because it avoids pitfalls associated with other dominant ethical theoretical approaches (such as deontology, utilitarianism, contractarianism, and virtue ethics), Gert's moral theory "provides what many people are looking for". Life Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Gert studied philosophy at Cornell University. He was a professor at Dartmouth College for fifty years, from 1959 to 2009. Upon his death in 2011, he was the Stone Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy, Emeritus at Dartmouth. He also had other adjunct and visiting appointments, including the University of Edinburgh 1974-5 and being a fellow of the Hastings Center, an independent bioethics research institution. He died in 2011 in North Carolina. A source of notoriety among his contemporaries was that his family became a family of philosophers: his two children, Joshua and Heather, both became philosophers, and both married two other philosophers. Metaethics Definition of morality Gert advocates the following definition of morality: Morality is an informal public system applying to all rational persons, governing behavior that affects others, and includes what are commonly known as the moral rules, ideals, and virtues and has the lessening of evil or harm as its goal. Morality as known to all According to Gert, his theory counts as a natural law theory because he holds that all moral agents must be able to understand morality in order to count as moral agents. In other words, "moral judgments can only be made about those who know what kind of behavior morality prohibits, requires, discourages, encourages, and allows." Harm as the central moral concept According to Gert, harm (or "evil") is the central moral concept. Gert believes harm is what all rational creatures seek to avoid. He advances the following five-concept account of harm: death pain disability loss of freedom loss of pleasure. He maintains that commonsense morality is far more concerned with prohibiting (and discouraging) evil than with requiring (or encouraging) people to enhance goods or benefits. Rationality and impartiality On Gert's view, the bases for morality are rationality and impartiality. On Gert's conception of rationality, it