Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-8mjnm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T17:16:06.786Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Bioethics and Human Rights: A Historical Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2001

ROBERT BAKER
Affiliation:
Union College, New York; History of Medical Ethics Affinity Group of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities; and the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania

Abstract

Bioethics and human rights were conceived in the aftermath of the Holocaust, when moral outrage reenergized the outmoded concepts of “medical ethics” and “natural rights,” renaming them “bioethics,” and “human rights” to give them new purpose. Originally, the principles of bioethics were a means for protecting human rights, but through a historical accident, bioethical principles came to be considered as fundamental. In this paper I reflect on the parallel development and accidental divorce of bioethics and human rights to urge their reconciliation.

Type
Special Section: Keeping Human Rights: An Appreciation of Jonathan M. Mann
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)