Bioethics, Universalism and Pluralism: Revisiting the Foundationalism Problem

Abstract

This article seeks to rescue the normative foundations of bioethics so as to render its universalism defensible and compatible with its pluralism, without resorting, on the one hand, to the foundationalism of proceduralist models such as principialism, and to the particularism of given moral doctrines, such as the Christian, Jewish, and other religious approaches to bioethics, on the other. It will be shown that Tristram Engelhardt's conception of pluralism in bioethics allows for a recasting of Judeo-Christian bioethics as one of the most reasonable, defensible models that satisfy such normative claims, insofar as it promotes a pluralist humanism and universalizable views of human rights, sociality, and ecological concerns.

Keywords

• fundamentos da bioética
• tradição judaico-cristã
• particularismo
• pluralismo
• universalismo