THE Bioethics is an interdisciplinary area of study involving the ethic and the Biology, basing the ethical principles that govern life when it is put at risk by Medicine or the sciences. THE bioethics word is a junction of the radicals "bio”, which comes from the Greek BIOS and it means life in the animal and physiological sense of the term (ie, bio is the pulsating life of animals, the one that keeps us alive as bodies), and ethos, which concerns moral conduct.
It is a branch of interdisciplinary study that uses the concept of life of Biology, O Right and the fields of investigationethic to problematize issues related to conduct of human beings in relation to other human beings and to other forms of life.
Origin
Bioethics emerged in the second half of the 20th century, due to the great development of Medicine and the sciences, which advanced more and more towards the modification of human life and the promotion of human comfort, as well as the use of in guinea pigs living (human and non-human). In order to avoid horrors such as those experienced within the
Nazi concentration camps and from medical techniques that hurt people's vital principles, Bioethics emerged as a means of problematizing what is hidden in the scientific research or in the medical technician when they involve life.authors
Today, some authors are references for Bioethics studies around the world. Among them are the philosopher Tom L. Beauchamp, professor at Georgetown University, and philosopher and theologian James F. childress, professor of ethics at the University of Virginia. Together, these two outstanding scholars of Bioethics wrote the book Biomedical Ethics Principles, which contains the formulation of basic bioethical principles, inspired by the great ethical systems of philosophers considered as canons of Western knowledge, such as Kant and Mill.
Another author of equal importance is Peter Singer, Australian philosopher and professor at Princeton University since 1999. Among his works, we can highlight practical ethics, which problematizes issues related to Ethics as an area of study capable of interfering in people's daily lives, analyzing controversial issues, such as abortion and euthanasia; and animal liberation, which founds the theory of animal rights.
Read too: Human Rights: what they are, articles and how they came about
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Importance
The social importance of Bioethics centers precisely on the fact that it seeks to prevent life from being affected or that some types of life be considered inferior to others. Bioethics discusses, for example, the utilization of stem cells embryonic in its most diverse problems, going through the need to abort a pregnancy to remove such cells and for the benefits that the treatments obtained by this resource can promote for the people.
Bioethics scholars respect the limits we must have when dealing with animals, whether for the care or food, whether for their commercial use, as they are living beings endowed with senses and capable of to suffer.
Principles of Bioethics
In Biomedical Ethics Principles, Beauchamps and Childress establish four basic principles that should guide bioethical work both for sciences that use guinea pigs and for biomedical and medical techniques that deal directly with life. These principles are linked to known ethical theories and gain a new contour in their formulations aimed at animal life.
Principle of non-maleficence: consists of the prohibition, in principle, of causing any intentional harm to the patient (or to the subject of scientific tests). Its earliest formulation can be found in the Hippocratic Oath, and in the 20th century it was established as a bioethical principle by scholars Dan Clouser and Bernanrd Gert.
principle of beneficence: may have its germ found in the Hippocratic oath, in which it is stated that the physician must aim for the benefit of the patient. Beauchamp and Childress go further, stating that both physicians and scientists using guinea pigs must be based on the principle of utility (the utilitarianism Mill and Bentham), aiming to bring the greatest benefit to the greatest possible number of people.
principle of autonomy: has its roots in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and seeks to break the paternal relationship between doctor and patient and prevent any kind of obligation of test subjects towards science. It is about respecting the autonomy of the individual, as he is responsible for himself, and it is he who decides whether he wants to be treated or whether he wants to participate in a scientific study.
principle of justice: based on John Rawls's theory of justice, this principle aims to create a regulatory mechanism for the relationship between patient and physician, which should no longer be subject only to medical authority. Such authority, which is conferred on the professional due to their knowledge and the oath of ethical conduct and professional, must submit to justice, which will act in case of conflict of interest or damage to the patient.
Read too: Moral values and their importance to society
Bioethics Themes
Bioethics deals with very delicate issues, often considered taboos. There is a difficulty in establishing unique and ultimate propositions, as there are at least three major areas of knowledge that involve Bioethics and because, as a science, it can't submit to religious morals, which can be a strong obstacle in matters relating to life, especially human life.
We list below some themes dealt with by Bioethics, exposing a brief discussion that may appear about them:
→ Doctor and patient x scientist and guinea pig
This is the main point touched by the studies of Beauchamp and Childress, who formulate the principalist solution (which is based on an ethics of principles) to the problems arising.
→ Euthanasia and assisted suicide
The literal translation of euthanasia is "good death". Euthanasia it is the act of ending the life of someone who, incapacitated, is in a situation of penury and cannot decide for himself. When a pet has a chronic progressive illness or has been severely sequelae from illness, veterinarians can euthanize them to end their suffering.
Assisted suicide is a type of euthanasia, but it is applied by humans who decide to take their own lives in a dignified manner and assisted by people who will ensure the patient does not suffer. Peter Singer is based on respect for human dignity and in the right to choose, which, for Beauchamp and Childress, can be represented by the principle of autonomy, to affirm the need to be respecting the individual choices of each subject and the need to look to the dignity of a life that is not worth being lived.
→ Abortion
Singer defends the abortion of fetuses with up to three months of gestation, a period in which Medicine claims that there is still no brain activity and, therefore, there is a complete absence of senses. Abortion, before three months, would only be the cell growth arrest inside a body. To discuss this, Singer starts from the notions of consciousness it's from sentience (basic senses and notion of presence in the world through pain and suffering).
→ Use of stem cells
Starting from its usefulness and beneficence, the use of embryonic stem cells is ethically viable when aiming at the treatment and improvement of common life. The controversial part of this issue is the need to carry out abortions in order to obtain the extraction of cells from embryos. The ethics of abortion in these cases is based on the same principles discussed in the previous topic.
→ Animal rights
singer wrote the book animal liberation, which, among other things, discusses animal rights. Animals are endowed with levels of sentience and, therefore, they suffer, feel pain, fear, hunger, etc. This is enough to note that animals cannot be indiscriminately used by industry, taking the dignity of their lives. Singer problematizes the human food that uses animals as products and, more deeply, introduces to the debate the use of animals for scientific, pharmaceutical and cosmetic tests.
by Francisco Porfirio
Philosophy teacher