European Perspectives

Abstract

In a report to the European Union Commission Project “Basic Ethical Principles in European Bioethics and Biolaw” (1995–1998) in the framework of the Research Programme Bio-Med II, basic ethical principles in bioethics and biolaw in Europe were presented and summarized by the partners in the Barcelona Declaration (Rendtorff, J. D., & Kemp, P. (2000). Basic ethical principles in European bioethics and biolaw, autonomy, dignity, integrity and vulnerability (Vol. I–II). Barcelona/Copenhagen: Center for Ethics and Law; Rendtorff, Medicine Health Care and Philosophy 5:235–244, 2002; Rendtorff and Kemp, Synthesis Philosophica 23(2):239–251, 2009). The principles that were investigated were autonomy, dignity, integrity, and vulnerability. This chapter gives a clarification of the foundation and significance of these basic principles European in bioethics and biolaw: The task of the chapter is to explain this philosophical and conceptual framework of the basic principles of bioethics and biolaw in Europe. The point of departure is a discussion of the choice of exactly these principles in the context of the legal protection of human person in biotechnological and biomedical development as well as of the ethical and legal status of the principles. This leads to the definition and explication of each concept and their mutual relations. It is important to emphasize that the principles rather than being mutually exclusive are interdependent and imply each other in the protection of human beings in biomedical research and biomedicine. The definition of the principles will be set in relation to social solidarity and responsibility in the modern welfare state where one experiences a transformation of the legal system toward an extended notion of state responsibility and a concern and protection of the vulnerable and weak in European societies. Finally, it can be briefly demonstrated that the European basic ethical principles can be considered to be very important as basis for the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights.