Respect for cultural diversity in bioethics is an ethical imperative

Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 16 (4):639-645 (2013)
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Abstract

The field of bioethics continues to struggle with the problem of cultural diversity: can universal principles guide ethical decision making, regardless of the culture in which those decisions take place? Or should bioethical principles be derived from the moral traditions of local cultures? Ten Have and Gordijn and Bracanovic defend the universalist position, arguing that respect for cultural diversity in matters ethical will lead to a dangerous cultural relativity where vulnerable patients and research subjects will be harmed. We challenge the premises of moral universalism, showing how this approach imports and imposes moral notions of Western society and leads to harm in non-western cultures

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References found in this work

The birth of bioethics.Albert R. Jonsen - 1998 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Anti Anti-Relativism.Clifford Geertz - 1984 - American Anthropologist 86 (2):263-278.
Bioethical concerns are global, bioethics is Western.Subrata Chattopadhyay & Raymond de Vries - 2008 - Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 18 (4):106-109.

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