Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PART I AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART II A CHRONOLOGY OF MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART III DISCOURSES OF MEDICAL ETHICS THROUGH THE LIFE CYCLE
- PART IV THE DISCOURSES OF RELIGION ON MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART V THE DISCOURSES OF PHILOSOPHY ON MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART VI THE DISCOURSES OF PRACTITIONERS ON MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART VII THE DISCOURSES OF BIOETHICS
- 38 The Discourses of Bioethics in the United States
- 39 The Discourses of Bioethics in the United Kingdom
- 40 The Discourses of Bioethics in Western Europe
- 41 The Discourses of Bioethics in Post-Communist Eastern Europe
- 42 The Discourses of Bioethics in Latin America
- 43 The Discourses of Bioethics in East Asia
- 44 The Discourses of Bioethics in South Asia
- 45 The Discourses of Bioethics in Sub-Saharan Africa
- PART VIII DISCOURSES ON MEDICAL ETHICS AND SOCIETY
- Appendix: Biographies: Who Was Who in the History of Medical Ethics
- Bibliography
- Index
40 - The Discourses of Bioethics in Western Europe
from PART VII - THE DISCOURSES OF BIOETHICS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 May 2012
- Frontmatter
- PART I AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART II A CHRONOLOGY OF MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART III DISCOURSES OF MEDICAL ETHICS THROUGH THE LIFE CYCLE
- PART IV THE DISCOURSES OF RELIGION ON MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART V THE DISCOURSES OF PHILOSOPHY ON MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART VI THE DISCOURSES OF PRACTITIONERS ON MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART VII THE DISCOURSES OF BIOETHICS
- 38 The Discourses of Bioethics in the United States
- 39 The Discourses of Bioethics in the United Kingdom
- 40 The Discourses of Bioethics in Western Europe
- 41 The Discourses of Bioethics in Post-Communist Eastern Europe
- 42 The Discourses of Bioethics in Latin America
- 43 The Discourses of Bioethics in East Asia
- 44 The Discourses of Bioethics in South Asia
- 45 The Discourses of Bioethics in Sub-Saharan Africa
- PART VIII DISCOURSES ON MEDICAL ETHICS AND SOCIETY
- Appendix: Biographies: Who Was Who in the History of Medical Ethics
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
This chapter addresses the development of bioethics in continental Western Europe, by which I mean the area including Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Italy. Great Britain, Holland, and other Scandinavian countries as well as Greece, Cyprus, Turkey and all the other countries which until 1989 were in the Eastern block are not included: they have a different “culture.” (The development of bioethics in Britain is addressed in Chapter 39 and in Eastern Europe in Chapter 41.)
At the beginning of the 1970s, in continental Europe, ethical issues in medicine were limited to a few topics attracting the concern of a restricted number of specialists who discussed them quietly. In approximately two decades this situation changed radically, and bioethical issues are now debated in public and even influence political elections.
To understand how such a change occurred, it is useful to distinguish two aspects: bioethics as a cultural movement, that is, as an emergence of some new ideas and spreading of new attitudes; and bioethics in an institutional setting, that is, as organizational resources that support the debate in the field, especially research centers and university curricula. These two aspects of bioethics are related but distinct: institutions are supposed to produce ideas and influence the wider culture, but seldom does even a well-organized research center have a significant impact on culture. On the contrary, new ideas can get off the ground and influence society at large, quite independently of institutional support.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge World History of Medical Ethics , pp. 490 - 494Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008