Bioethics

Bioethics is the ethics of biological science and medicine.

Definition and scope

Bioethics concerns the ethical questions that arise in the relationships between biology, medicine, cybernetics, politics, law, philosophy, and theology. Disagreement exists about the proper scope for the application of ethical evaluation to questions involving biology. Some bioethicists would narrow ethical evaluation only to the morality of medical treatments or technological innovations, and the timing of medical treatment of humans. Other bioethicists would broaden the scope of ethical evaluation to include the morality of all actions that might help or harm organisms capable of feeling fear and pain.

Related Topics:
Biology - Medicine - Cybernetics - Politics - Law - Philosophy - Theology - Treatments - Technological

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Bioethics involves many public policy questions that are often politicized- used to mobilize political constituencies. For this reason, some biologists and others involved in the development of technology have come to see any mention of "bioethics" as an attempt to derail their work and react to it as such, regardless of the true intent. Transhumanist biologists in particular can be prone to this line of thought, as they see their work as inherently ethical, and attacks on it as misguided.

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