Abstract
What is the relation between development and bioethics? The conception of development used to address this question is the capabilities approach promoted in the UNDP reports on human development. Since the first report in 1999, this approach has undergone continuous revisions and refinements, but the main structure and core elements of the original concept have been preserved. Its theoretical underpinnings are presented, with emphasis on the contributions of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum. In addition, the relation between human development, human rights, and bioethics is discussed. This is followed by an analysis of how this approach can be made use of in bioethics. It is argued that it can be of help in providing a more context-sensitive and thereby richer and thicker description and analysis of current bioethics challenges as well as in articulating a global agenda for bioethics. Finally, it is argued that if the ambition is bioethics with global aspirations committed to life (bioi) in general, then there is a need to broaden the capabilities approach so as to make the life conditions and potentials of other living beings as well a matter of concern for development.
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Solbakk, J.H. (2015). Development and Bioethics. In: ten Have, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05544-2_140-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05544-2_140-1
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