Abstract

Events in 2020 have sparked a reimagination of how both individuals and institutions should consider race, power, health, and marginalization in society. In a response to these developments, we examine the current and past limitations of the ways in which bioethicists have considered race and, more generally, discourses of marginalization. We argue that the foundational principle of justice necessitates that bioethics, as an institution, maintain an active voice against systemic injustice. To carry out this charge, bioethics as a field should promote alternative narratives—“counter storytelling”—to the mainstream voices that have traditionally been heard and accepted, largely without opposition. Additionally, we engage with both Post-Colonial and Critical Race Theory, which we believe are important tools for bioethics in pursuit of equity. Ultimately, we advocate for a proactive form of bioethics that actively resists and denounces injustice and which considers a much wider variety of voices about justice than bioethics has historically considered.

摘要

2020年的事件引发了人们对个人和机构应如何考虑种族，权力，健康和社会边缘化的重新想象。在回应这些发展时，我们研究了生物伦理学家考虑种族以及更普遍的边缘化话语的方式的当前和过去的局限性。我们认为，正义的基本原则要求作为一个机构的生物伦理学必须保持积极的反对系统性不公正的声音。为了履行这一职责，生物伦理学应该在传统上已经被听到和接受的主流声音中推广替代性叙事-“反故事”，这在很大程度上没有反对意见。此外，我们参与了后殖民理论和批判种族理论，我们认为这是生物伦理学追求公平的重要工具。