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Confucianism

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Handbook of Global Bioethics

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Abstract

This chapter evaluates the universality of the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights from a Confucian perspective. It aims to show that although the Declaration may appear to be accommodating to diverse moral communities, its neutrality is in fact founded on moral presumptions that are central to mainstream bioethics but not essentially so to other moral communities. To explicate the case, this chapter discusses the common practice of informed consent in Confucian societies that is different from that advanced by the Declaration and explains the Confucian ethical reasoning behind it. On the whole, this chapter contends that open and ongoing exchanges between moral communities should not be confined by the aspiration for universal bioethical principles.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public and Social Administration, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR

    Erika Yu (Senior Research Assistant)

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  1. Erika Yu
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Correspondence to Erika Yu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Pittsburgh, USA

    Henk A.M.J. ten Have

  2. Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland

    Bert Gordijn

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Yu, E. (2014). Confucianism. In: ten Have, H., Gordijn, B. (eds) Handbook of Global Bioethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2512-6_90

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2512-6_90

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-2511-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-2512-6

  • eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law

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