Léo Pessini & Christian Paul de Barchifontaine 
Ibero-American Bioethics 
History and Perspectives

This book is the first in a series of planned volumes focused on preserving the character of the development of bioethics in particular cultural contexts. As the first of these volumes, Leo Pessini, Christian de Paul de Barchifontaine, and Fernando Lolas Stepke’s work has succeeded well. It has brought together accounts by sch- ars who were crucial to the emergence of bioethics in the Ibero-American cultural domain. This trail-blazing work in the history of bioethics will be of enduring s- nificance. I am deeply in their debt for having shouldered this far from easy task. Bioethics is the product of very particular socio-historical developments. Most prominent among them have been (1) the secularization of the dominant culture of North America, Western Europe, and now Central and South America as well, (2) a deflation of the status and authority of physicians as moral authorities able to guide their own profession, and (3) the salience of a post-traditional animus that gives c- tral place to persons as isolated atomic sources of moral authority. Bioethics initially took shape in North America as a post-Christian, post-professional, post-traditional social movement. This bioethics sought to establish a moral discourse for the public forum, a moral practice able to give practical guidance in hospitals and other insti- tions, and a body of undergirding and justifying theoretical reflections.

Table of Content

Reflections from the Latin American Context.- The Historical Setting of Latin American Bioethics.- The Discourses of Bioethics in Latin America.- A Personal History of Bioethics in Latin America: The Current Challenge to the Medical Profession and the Influence of Pharmaceutical Companies.- Bioethics in Latin America and Colombia.- The Pan American Health Organization and Latin American Bioethics.- Reflections from Pioneering Voices.- References to Bioethics in Argentina.- Bioethics in Bolivia: Antecedents and Projections.- An X-Ray of Bioethics in Brazil: Pioneering Voices, Institutional and Educational Programs and Perspectives.- Bioethics in Chile.- Evolution of Bioethics in Costa Rica: A Recent History.- Bioethics in Cuba: Responsibility and Solidarity.- The History of Bioethics in the Dominican Republic.- Historical Aspects of the Development of Bioethics in Ecuador.- A Survey of the Development of Mexican Bioethics: Genomic Medicine as One of Its Greatest Challenges.- The History of Bioethics in Panama.- The History and Development of Bioethics in Paraguay.- Bioethics in Peru.- Bioethics in Portugal.- Historical Development of Bioethics in Puerto Rico.- The Dynamics of the Bioethical Dialogue in Spain.- Bioethics in Venezuela: First Pathways.- Special Topics in Bioethics.- Bioethics and Religion in Latin America.- Bioethics and Women in Latin America: A Biographical and Genealogical Essay.- The Environment and Bioethics: A Brazilian Perspective.- Human Vulnerability.- Ethics of Research Involving Human Subjects: The Brazilian Experience.- The Future of Ibero-American Bioethics.- A Prospective Examination for Discovering Challenges from the Hispano-American Historical Context.- A Critical Reading of Latin American Bioethics.- What Kind of Future Awaits Us? Some Challenging Questions for the Future of Bioethics in Ibero-America.- Postscript.- The Many Beginnings of Bioethics: A Comparison of American and Ibero-American Bioethics and the Possibility of a Global Bioethics.- Erratum To: Ethics of Research Involving Human Subjects: The Brazilian Experience (pp 333–341).