This talk will introduce a deliberate hermeneutical approach to bioethics. In our globalised world, “Justice” seems to be taken for granted, as a general ethical norm to govern social transactions and lines of demarcation, and as a so-called principle in bioethics. This is the result of contingent interactions between political, historical and intellectual processes. Therefore, legitimacy and meaning of yi 義 (Confucian) / justice (heterogeneous global) remain an urgent matter for clarification, especially but not solely in cross-cultural discussions.

Even when there are positive codes, legal regulation and international laws prescribing “justice” equivocally, the actual meaning is generated in multi-layered segments of practice, between philosophical discourse, institutional and social practice and acts of decision-making. However, bioethics tends to refer to this concept as if it were sufficiently framed, as, “a principle” or, “a norm”.

The meaning of 義 justice, be it individual, collective or global, concrete or abstract, is subject to interpretation and experiment, political strategy and implementation, individual struggle and reflection on related outcomes. As a normative learning process, 義 justice intrinsically seeks to advance the quality and reliability of an intended human culture, notably in bioethics.

Speaker : Professor Ole Döring, Visiting William Evans Fellow.