Global bioethics from the perspective of critical bioethics

Abstract

Since the 1990s bioethics has increasingly approached the discussions related to international health and life sciences, which led some authors to refer to the “global bioethics”. This article examines this concept as elaborated in the theoretical perspectives of three formulations of North American bioethics: Van Rensselaer Potter, the Tristram Engelhardt, and Beauchamp and Childress. By balancing the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches of these authors, it is proposed the “critical bioethics” as the best qualified alternative theoretical to address the global issues of bioethics from the historical perspective of the countries of the Global South.