title: Respect for cultural diversity in bioethics is an ethical imperative.
abstract: The field of bioethics continues to struggle with the problem of cultural diversity: can universal principles guide ethical decision making, regardless of the culture in which those decisions take place? Or should bioethical principles be derived from the moral traditions of local cultures? Ten Have and Gordijn (Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 14:1-3, 2011) and Bracanovic (Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 14:229-236, 2011) defend the universalist position, arguing that respect for cultural diversity in matters ethical will lead to a dangerous cultural relativity where vulnerable patients and research subjects will be harmed. We challenge the premises of moral universalism, showing how this approach imports and imposes moral notions of Western society and leads to harm in non-western cultures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Institutional Review Board, Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences, 5th Mile, Tadong, Gangtok, 737102, Sikkim, India.
authors.forename: Subrata
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chattopadhyay
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: De Vries
mesh_terms: D026688:Bioethical Issues; D001675:Bioethics; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000941:ethics*; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D003657:Decision Making / Q000941:ethics*; D006805:Human Experimentation / Q000941:ethics*; D006801:Humans