Do or establish global bioethics? (1)
The global bioethics of VR Potter and AE Hellegers
Fr. Edmund Kowalski, CSsR
The genesis, development and research methods of the two pioneers of bioethics – VR Potter and AE Hellegers – allowed Warren T. Reich to distinguish between three meanings of the word “global” attributed to the discipline (global bioethics): 1. in relation to the whole earth (a universal ethic for the good of the world); 2. In the sense of a comprehensive vision of all the ethical problems in the life and health sciences (both in the “biomedical” and “environmental” fields); 3. In the sense that a comprehensive set of methods is used in dealing with those problems: effective incorporation of all relevant values, concepts, models of rationality and disciplines involved (cf. WT Reich, Bioethics models. Comparing Potter and Kennedy Institute, 1995).
Is the survival of the human species an abstract concept and/or an unfounded value? … It nevertheless appears as a value that has primacy over all others.
The answer to the problem of epistemological origin: “where” to find or “how” to establish a fundamental criterion for this evaluation. It can be found by reading the article by Father Kowalski …
(Full article on the Blog of the Alphonsian Academy: www.alfonsiana.org )
