Global bioethics and communitarianism |
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Authors: | Henk A M J ten Have |
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Institution: | (1) Center for Healthcare Ethics, Duquesne University, 300 Fisher Hall, 600 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15282, USA |
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Abstract: | This paper explores the role of ‘community’ in the context of global bioethics. With the present globalization of bioethics,
new and interesting references are made to this concept. Some are familiar, for example, community consent. This article argues
that the principle of informed consent is too individual-oriented and that in other cultures, consent can be community-based.
Other references to ‘community’ are related to the novel principle of benefit sharing in the context of bioprospecting. The
application of this principle necessarily requires the identification and construction of communities. On the global level
there are also new uses of the concept of community as ‘global community.’ Three uses are distinguished: (1) a diachronic
use, including past, present, and future generations, (2) a synchronic ecological use, including nonhuman species, and (3)
a synchronic planetary use, including all human beings worldwide. Although there is a tension between the communitarian perspective
and the idea of global community, this article argues that the third use can broaden communitarianism. The current development
towards cosmopolitanism is creating a new global community that represents humanity as a whole, enabling identification of
world citizens and evoking a sense of global solidarity and responsibility. The emergence of global bioethics today demonstrates
this development. |
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