Global Justice And Bioethics

This text presents a collection of original essays by leading thinkers in political theory, philosophy, and bioethics on key issues concerning global justice and bioethics. The collection addresses theoretical and practical questions about international distributive justice, humans rights, health care, and medical research.

Global realities of human inequality, poverty, violence and ecological destruction call for a twenty-first-century Christian response which links cross-cultural and interreligious cooperation for change to the Gospel. This book demonstrates why just action is necessarily a criterion of authentic Christian theology, and gives grounds for Christian hope that change in violent structures is really possible. Lisa Sowle Cahill argues that theology and biblical interpretation are already embedded in and indebted to ethical-political practices and choices. Within this ecumenical study, she explores the use of the historical Jesus in constructive theology; the merits of Word and Spirit Christologies; the importance of liberation and feminist theologies as well as theologies from the global south; and also the possibility of qualified moral universalism. The book will be of great interest to all students of theology, religious ethics and politics, and biblical studies.

The book discusses selected issues related to global ethics and global justice. Among its central topics are: defining the notions of global ethics and global justice, dimensions of justice and the questions of universal standards of justice, moral disagreement and moral dialogue, agents of global justice, status justice and membership, restitutive and restorative justice in historical context and context of communities, the role of reactive moral attitudes (shame, guilt) in reconciliation, intercultural and interreligious dialogue, the role of intellectual humility and epistemic justice, and culture of fear and religious (in)tolerance. The core unifying theme of the entire book is the focus on justice (in its various forms) as one of the most significant ethical challenges of the contemporary world.

Catholic health care is one of the key places where the church lives Catholic social teaching (CST). Yet the individualistic methodology of Catholic bioethics inherited from the manualist tradition has yet to incorporate this critical component of the Catholic moral tradition. Informed by the places where Catholic health care intersects with the diverse societal injustices embodied in the patients it encounters, this book brings the lens of CST to bear on Catholic health care, illuminating a new spectrum of ethical issues and practical recommendations from social determinants of health, immigration, diversity and disparities, behavioral health, gender-questioning patients, and environmental and global health issues.

Proposing a new view of global justice based on natural law, this book examines the ethics of health as they relate to neglected diseases.

What can be done about the poor state of global health? How are global health challenges intimately linked to the global political economy and to issues of social justice? What are our responsibilities and how can we improve global health? Global Health and Global Health Ethics addresses these questions from the perspective of a range of disciplines, including medicine, philosophy and the social sciences. Topics covered range from infectious diseases, climate change and the environment to trade, foreign aid, food security and biotechnology. Each chapter identifies the ways in which we exacerbate poor global health and discusses what we should do to remedy the factors identified. Together, they contribute to a deeper understanding of the challenges we face, and propose new national and global policies. Offering a wealth of empirical data and both practical and theoretical guidance, this is a key resource for bioethicists, public health practitioners and philosophers.

Presents a new theory of media ethics that is explicitly international.

The panorama of bioethical problems is different today. Patients travel to Thailand for fast surgery; commercial surrogate mothers in India deliver babies to parents in rich countries; organs, body parts and tissues are trafficked from East to Western Europe; physicians and nurses migrating from Africa to the U.S; thousands of children or patients with malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS are dying each day because they cannot afford effective drugs that are too expensive. Mainstream bioethics as it has developed during the last 50 years in Western countries is evolving into a broader approach that is relevant for people across the world and is focused on new global problems. This book provides an introduction into the new field of global bioethics. Addressing these problems requires a broader vision of bioethics that not only goes beyond the current emphasis on individual autonomy, but that criticizes the social, economic and political context that is producing the problems at global level. This book argues that global bioethics is a necessity because the social, economic and environmental effects of globalization require critical responses. Global bioethics is not a finished product that can simply be applied to solve global problems, but it is the ongoing result of interaction and exchange between local practices and global discourse. It combines recognition of differences and respect for cultural diversity with convergence towards common perspectives and shared values. The book examines the nature of global problems as well as the type of responses that are needed, in order to exemplify the substance of global bioethics. It discusses the ethical frameworks that are available for global discourse and shows how these are transformed into global governance mechanisms and practices.