Bioethics faced with sociocultural diversity, the impact of the meaning given to an unfinishedconcept

Abstract

At a time in which the ethical awareness towards socio-cultural diversity is anecessity, it seems of paramount importance to explore what is meant bybioethics. Without being exhaustive, this paper suggests to scrutinize the keydefinitions of bioethics, considering their evolution over time as well as theirconvergence with anthropology. Starting with its global and its restricteddefinitions, this article examines certain differences or definitional imprecisionsin the light of the concepts used by bioethicists and anthropologists in theirconception of bioethics. While this exercise shows the pertinence of theconceptual tools proposed by anthropology to facilitate the cultural diversity integration into bioethics, it ultimately challenges an anthropological approachthat has been unable to mainstream this knowledge into the definition ofbioethics.