"Bioethics" Should Be Expanded to Include Its Real Roots

The term “Bioethics” was first used by Fritz Jahr and referred to our ethical perspective and obligations to all living beings.  Jahr’s view is summed up in the Bioethical Imperative, which states that we should:  “Respect every living thing on principle as an end in itself and treat it, if possible, as such.”  This means, taking Jahr’s and Jeffrey Bishop’s Aristotelian lead, we should grasp the full nature of the living being in focus at any given time, its efficient, material, formal, and final causes.  Current Bioethics discussions most often regard Medical Ethics, and talk of human patients in terms of the body’s material and efficient causes.  Formal causes would include how the person or living being, in its circumstances and relationships, engages with the world.  Final causes include purposes, potential, and robust intentions.  If we expand our bioethical perspective to the global level as Van Rensselaer Potter does, we see that supporting the environment and the survival of all living beings, people and all living beings can maintain their full natures on a long-term basis.  Approaching the world with the Bioethical Imperative as a foundation provides a full and inclusive framework for important discussions and decisions.