Introduction: Bioethics and Asian Culture — A Quest for Moral Diversity

Abstract

This volume, Bioethics: Asian Perspectives, has been compiled and edited within the context of an intensified debate on universal ethics and global bioethics. It seems to me that after the Cold War and in the process of globalization, some have been anxious to unify not only the actions but also the beliefs and value systems in biomedical and other fields under the rubric of global bioethics or universal ethics. The desire to solve global problems or issues by coordinated efforts made by all peoples and all countries in the world is understandable. However, these coordinated efforts have to be and only can be achieved by consensus between them after patient and informative dialogue, consultation and negotiation with mutual respect and mutual understanding. The final answer cannot be deduced from an overarching universal ethics or global bioethics invented by some genius philosopher or leading figure, and any such inventor may not impose his solution on other people. Nothing could prevent this kind of imposition from leading to the kind of ethical imperialism that some bioethicists in developing countries understandably worry about.