文化差异、相对主义与生命伦理

Culture Diversity, Relativism & Bioethics

多元文化是当今世界的一个重要特征,不同的文化在道德观上的差异很容易在生命伦理学领域导致一种伦理相对主义:根据不同的文化传统,人们对同一境况下的同一行为所作的不同道德判断都同样是正确或有效的。通过对伦理相对主义三个命题(差异、相对性和宽容)的深入分析,本文认为这种伦理相对主义并不能得到有力的论证,而且会在生命伦理学领域产生许多不好的后果;面对生命伦理中的文化差异,一种温和的客观主义立场更为可取。

Cultural pluralism is one of the characters of contemporary world. People from disparate cultural backgrounds can make disparate moral judges on an act, taking place under the same circumstances. These different moral judgments can contribute to a kind of moral relativism in bioethics: disparate judgments would be equally right or valid depending on different cultural traditions. After carefully analyzing moral relativism's three propositions (diversity, relativity and tolerance), this paper contends that this kind of relativism will not be argued and that it can produce many unacceptable results. When dealing with the diversity in bioethics, mild objectivism is more advisable.