The Word "Bioethics": Its Birth and the Legacies of those Who Shaped It

Abstract

Extensive historical sleuthing reveals that the word "bioethics" and the field of study it names experienced, in 1970/1971, a "bilocated birth" in Madison, Wisconsin, and in Washington, D.C. Van Rensselaer Potter, at the University of Wisconsin first coined the term; and André Hellegers, at Georgetown University, at the very least, latched onto the already-existing word "bioethics" and first used it in an institutional way to designate the focused area of inquiry that became an academic field of learning and a movement regarding public policy and the life sciences. A further comparison of the Potter and the Hellegers/Georgetown understandings of bioethics and the relative acceptance of the two views will appear in the March 1995 issue of this journal.

Ensino de bioética nas faculdades de medicina no Brasil

“…According to the author, when one talks about indoctrinating one wishes to convey moral content to students, and by giving answers teachers avoid them to keep thinking and confine them to their own moral universe -which she calls "closed moral". From an educational perspective it is necessary to open new content to allow for students to think morally on their own and make decisons based on their autonomy -which Cortina 13 . Ever since, there has been growing interest on the philosophical foundation of bioethics based on ethics, which shows, on the one hand, the interest of the authors of the area on bioethics for the ethical cornerstones and, on the other hand, the interest awoken in philosophy especially due to ethical issues and the debate on bioethics 14 …”

Is 3D-Pinter Dangerous? Bioethics as an Instrument of the Humanitarian Expertise of Modern Technologies

“…Widespread introduction of modern biomedical technologies in the second half of the XX century in medical practice in the conditions of developing democracy led to emergence of such social phenomenon as Bioethics [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. At the moment the bioethics on the one hand is recognized scientific area of the interdisciplinary knowledge with its subject -the assessment and a choice of moral criteria of the relation to live (definition of the author -F.N.).…”

Envelhecimento e doença de Alzheimer: reflexões sobre autonomia e o desafio do cuidado

“…Para Reich, historiador da bioética e editor-chefe das duas primeiras edições da Encyclopedia of bioethics (1978 e 1995), o legado de Hellegers está no fato de entender que sua missão em relação à bioética seria a de ser pessoa-ponte entre a medicina, a filosofia e a ética. Esse legado, que acaba sendo hegemônico ao longo do tempo, associa a bioética à ética biomédica [4][5][6] . Portanto, desde o momento do seu nascimento a bioética tem dupla paternidade e duplo enfo-que.…”