Human Rights and Their Role in Global Bioethics

Global bioethics is a bold project. In its moderate form, it seeks to find solutions to the dilemmas of modern medicine and the biological sciences through a cross-cultural understanding of human responsibilities and capacities. In its more ambitious form, it seeks to consider all possible ethical issues that arise in relation to life and living beings on earth. Given the ambition of the goal, it is not surprising that disagreements are frequent and agreements rare. One of the most contentious issues is whether or not human rights should play an important role in global bioethics.