From Hippocrates’ ethics to V. R. Potter’s global bioethics: educational aspects

authors: Svitlana Pustovit, Liudmyla Paliei

Urgency of the research. The last century was marked by globalization, the comprehensive integration of various human activity systems, and the formation of unified spaces, including those for information, communication, economics, etc. In response to civilizational challenges, humanity is acquiring the characteristics of a global moral subject. Global bioethics as a system of moral values and principles, a scientific interdisciplinary direction that combines natural and humanitarian sciences and strives to solve the global problems of humanity, is the most important element of a modern doctor’s worldview and, accordingly, an essential component of today’s educational environment. The European transformation vector of the higher education system chosen by Ukraine necessitates the development of new value-based ethical dimensions, worldview-philosophical and epistemological foundations of a modern university, one of which is a bioethical worldview.

Target setting. Global bioethics, as a new interdisciplinary field of study, started to emerge in the 1970s of the 20th century at the nexus of the natural sciences and humanities. Its primary focus is on considering and resolving the complex ethical dilemmas of preserving an individual’s health and well-being as well as the wellbeing of humanity as a whole and the environment, first and foremost under the circumstances of intensive use of biomedical technologies. With the emergence of global challenges posing a threat to human civilization, there has been a need to increase the role of bioethical education and develop global dimensions of medical education. The modern model of bioethics as a scientific direction and academic discipline cannot be limited to purely medical issues and rely solely on the values of autonomy and freedom of choice of medical service consumers without taking into account humanity’s global ethical problems. In the face of global challenges to contemporary civilization, global bioethics has emerged as a new moral discourse that articulates the values of solidarity, justice, vulnerability, and biodiversity protection.

Latest scientific studies and issues analysis. Among the scientists addressing the conceptual foundations of global bioethics are S. V. Pustovit, M. M. Kyseliov, T. V. Hardashuk, T. V. Mishatkina, T. M. Tsyrdia, V. R. Potter, T. Beauchamp and J. Childress, H. Ten Have, M. Gaille-Nikodimov, D. C. Zanella, A. Sganzerla., and L. Pessini. Educational aspects of global bioethics, features off the modern educational environment and its challenges t have been highlighted in the studies of such scholars as V. P. Andrushchenko, A. V. Horpenko, O. P. Kyvliuk, S. V. Pustovit, T. V. Mishatkina, O. Y. Kubar, T. P. Artimonov, N. D. Kovalchuk, L. A. Ovsyankina, N. Ivanenko, and H. ten Have. A number of scientists, including S. Benataar, H. ten Have, B. Gordijn, E. D. Pellegrino & T. K. McElhinney, Dwyer, L. Gruen and W. Ruddick, A. Majumdar, P. Mishra & R. Kaur, А. Morales-González, etc., have devoted their publications to the substantiation of the role of global bioethics as an essential worldview, axiological, and epistemological component of medical education.

The research objective. To explore the educational aspects of global bioethics (from traditional Hippocrates’ ethics to V.R. Potter’s global bioethics) - a scientific direction and academic discipline as a needed ideological, axiological and epistemological basis for the functioning of the contemporary medical education system.

The statement of basic materials. The educational and sociocultural aspects of global bioethics as an ideological and scientific phenomenon have been addressed. A comparative analysis of two models of bioethics, including T. Bochamp and J. Childres’ biomedical ethics and V. R. Potter’s global bioethics, has been carried out from the point of view of the goals and objectives of the contemporary medical education system.

Conclusions. The evolutionary development of medical ethics as an academic discipline and practice, from Hippocrates’ ethics to V.R. Potter’s global bioethics, has been analysed. It has been concluded that the modern model of bioethics cannot be limited to the principles of biomedical ethics, the consideration of purely medical issues, and reliance solely on the values of autonomy and freedom of choice of the individual as a consumer of medical services without taking into account the global bioethical problems of mankind.  Global bioethics, as an ethics of respect for the autonomy, dignity, and life of all living beings, as a scientific interdisciplinary direction that unites the natural and human sciences and strives to solve the global problems of mankind, is becoming an essential element of a modern doctor’s worldview and, accordingly, an essential component of the contemporary educational environment. It has been shown that the development of international academic mobility, the migration of medical professionals, health tourism, the globalization of clinical research and biomedical technologies, and the expansion of the most contentious area of bioethics are all factors contributing to the global dimension of bioethical education.

Key words: bioethics, biomedical ethics, global bioethics, bioethical education.

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