Global bioethics and respect for cultural diversity: how do we avoid moral relativism and moral imperialism?
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Global bioethics and respect for cultural diversity: how do we avoid moral relativism and moral imperialism? Mbih Jerome Tosam1
© Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract One of the major concerns of advocates of common morality is that respect for cultural diversity may result in moral relativism. On their part, proponents of culturally responsive bioethics are concerned that common morality may result in moral imperialism because of the asymmetry of power in the world. It is in this context that critics argue that global bioethics is impossible because of the difficulties to address these two theoretical concerns. In this paper, I argue that global bioethics is possible if we adopt a culturally responsive and self-critical attitude towards our moral values and those of others. I use the example of women’s reproductive autonomy in indigenous African culture to show that the difference between the leading Euro-American and indigenous African construal of autonomy is that the former ascribes greater weight on individual selfdetermination while the latter emphasizes responsibilities towards the community. One develops dignity in virtue of their capacity for communing with others. Hence, women have rights, but as members of the community, they also have obligations including the duty to procreate. The involvement of the family in reproductive decisions does not contravene women’s dignity and human rights. In applying the principle of autonomy in this communitarian context, one has to be sensitive to these ontological and moral specificities. The aim of global bioethics should not be to reach common grounds at all costs; any common norms should be the result of a negotiated democratic dialogue between cultures and not the result of imposition by the preponderant culture(s). Keywords Cultural diversity · Moral relativism · Moral imperialism · Global bioethics · Indigenous African values · Reproductive autonomy · Reproductive rights
Introduction The dominance of Euro-American moral values in global bioethics has provoked vigorous criticisms from diverse theoretical perspectives, including post-colonial, feminist, and communitarian ones (Chattopadhyay and De Vries 2008; Myser 2011; De Vreis and Rott 2011). There are increasing calls from bioethicists from around the world for respect for cultural diversity. The canonization of Western bioethics was inaugurated by Beauchamp and Childress in their magnum opus, The Principles of Biomedical Ethics in the idea of “common morality”, which holds that there is a ‘‘set of norms shared by all persons committed to morality… applicable to all persons at all places’’ (2009: p. 3). On their
* Mbih Jerome Tosam [email protected] 1
University of Bamenda, Bamenda, Cameroon
part, critics argue that ‘common morality’ derides “the social and cultural differences that exist within and between societies, negates the importance of recognition and respect of ‘‘otherness’’ and the many ways of being in the world” (Fox and Swazey 2010: p. 278). Because common morali
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