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This volume contains the Proceedings of a three-year NEH-sponsored seminar on bioethics, held at the University of Puerto Rico during the summers of 1998-2000. This is one of the finest collections of interdisciplinary studies covering the areas of philosophy, history, theology, literature, and the behavioral sciences. A distinguished international panel of scholars, including Edmund Pellegrino, Diego Gracia Guillén, Javier Gafo, Samuel Banks, and Joanne Trautman, among others, present their penetrating research in a lucid and engaging style.

Bioethics as an Interdisciplinary Enterprise: Where Does Ethics Fit in the Mosaic of Disciplines? (p. 1)

Edmund D. Pellegrino, M.D.

Center for Clinical Bioethics

Georgetown University, Washigton, DC.

Introduction

Bioethics is an emergent universe of moral discourse barely a quarter of a century old. Yet, even as it grows in influence, its identity, limits, and scope as a field of inquiry are increasingly debated [31, [6], [17], [62], [751. Precisely what disciplines and modes of inquiry should characterize this new field? How much of"bioethics" is biology, how much is ethics, and how much is in the domain of the humanities or social sciences?

How do the many disciplines that now claim a role in moral deliberation relate to each other? Where does philosophical ethics fit in the expansive visions of bioethics that are now fashionable?

Is it merely one discipline among many, or can it make some claim to the role of primus inter pares? If bioethics is, indeed, an interdisciplinary exercise, how inclusive and how diversified should bioethics be? How much of bioethics should be ethics?

These questions seem particularly appropriate at this time and in this symposium which celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the Spicker and Engelhardt series in Philosophy and Medicine.

The volume that initiated this impressive scholarly collation was the product of a conference at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston under the aegis of the Institute for the Medical Humanities which is sponsoring today`s conference as well.

That institute has nurtured some of today`s preeminent leaders and scholars in bioethics. It continues to be distinctive in the breadth of disciplines it brings together to examine the ethical and value questions pertinent to medicine, the health professions, and health care.

This same breadth of approach characterizes the interests, scholarly work, and philanthropy of Dr. John McGovern, in whose name I have the honor of delivering this lecture. It was also the approach of Dr. William B. Bean, at one time Director of the Institute, who, along with Dr. McGovern, is among the few who truly merit the title of medical humanist.

Those questions are more than nostalgic evocations of the medieval disputes about the identity and classification of disciplines. The practical importance of bioethics is such that its definition is more than a semantic or pedantic diversion. Bioethics, today, is invoked in judicial and legislative decisions, in public debate, and in ethics committees, commissions, and clinical consultations.

The outcome of those varied"bioethical" exercises imply a certain moral authority and credibility. A new profession of"bioethicists" has been born to provide technical expertise in the analysis and resolution of a wide range of ethical dilemmas"-at the bedside, in policy formation, and in everyday life.

"Bioethics" is a bifid neologism marrying biology and ethics. One of its terms,"ethics," has traditionally been regarded as a branch of philosophy. Yet, today, many who call themselves bioethicists do not consider their work to be a branch of philosophy.
Table of Contents8
Acknowledgements12
Dedicatoria13
Preface14
Introduction16
Bioethics as an interdisciplinary enterprise: where does Ethics fit in the mosaic of disciplines?24
La bioética como una disciplina critica47
Religiones y bioética60
Gender issues facing the new millenium: a global perspective78
La dimensión bioética de las profesiones sanitarias89
Nursing at the crossroads101
El sentido de la vida y la espiritualidad en la relación entre el profesional de la salud y su paciente114
Suicide: A solution to problems with dying?130
El porqué y el qué de los comités de ética140
Impact of market forces on health care156
Ethics in the age of health care reform168
Ecoética179
Agenda bioética para Puerto Rico: un diálogo abierto190
Lista de los participantes212