Term: “Life” & “Ethics” | 1970
The term Bioethics was proposed by Van Rensselaer Potter (1911–2001), an American biochemist and professor of oncology at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research at the University of Wisconsin, who defined the term Bioethics and described a new philosophy that incorporated biology, ecology, medicine, and human values.
However, if bioethics is defined as the science that examines not only the problems created by modern medical sciences and technologies, but also the problems that have always been raised by medical sciences and technologies, then its origins can easily be traced back to the era of the pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle, and Hippocrates, when medical science and art first appeared.
The question is whether medicine is a science, an art, or practical wisdom. Aristotle answers this question very intelligently.
The Pythagorean philosopher Alcmaeon of Croton was the first philosopher to write on medical topics.
He attempted to understand and analyze health and disease.
Empedocles of Acragas founded the medical school of Southern Italy, which clashed with the schools of Cnidus and Kos. He wrote “On Nature,” which survives in fragmentary form, and “Purifications,” which has not survived.
He seems to be preoccupied with the question of the origin of beings, especially human beings, while attempting to formulate a theory of the physiology of
vital functions.
From the beginning until the time of Hippocrates, medicine depended on philosophy. Hippocrates was the one who separated the two and made medicine an independent science.
Hippocratic Ethics
The Hippocratic Oath dates back to around 411 BC and remains to this day the strongest foundation of medical ethics and medicine, transforming medicine from a profession into a vocation. “The universality of its precepts and its profound humanism have made it a text of unique and eternal value.”
Bioethics today!
Bioethics studies and analyzes the ethical issues arising from new applications of science, with the aim of preventing risks to social life.
Bioethics is the application of ethics to the life sciences. It is the field that deals with the ethical and social problems arising from new applications of biology and medicine, seeking to achieve a balance between the benefits and risks of our decisions on the use of technology.
By its very nature, bioethics is at the intersection of different scientific fields: biology and medicine, but also law, philosophy, sociology, and theology.
The aims of bioethics are:
To define and defend human values, such as the right to life and health and respect for individual autonomy.
To promote these values in the fields of research and science.
To anticipate the potential risks that may arise from rapid scientific developments and to weigh the benefits and risks for the benefit of humans, other living organisms, and the environment.
Finally, to develop a framework for the practical resolution of difficult ethical dilemmas.
Distinctions in Bioethics
Contemporary Bioethics can be divided into two broad categories in terms of subject matter:
Biomedical Ethics deals with ethical and social issues concerning the management of human life, mainly in the field of Medicine.
Environmental Ethics is concerned with how the lives of all other organisms or microorganisms are managed, whether in applications such as food and fuel production or the preservation of ecosystems and biodiversity, or in the field of biological research.