Making History: Bioethics, Culture and the History of Moral Ideas

The way we think about the history of moral ideas plays a crucial role in our understanding of bioethics and bioethical debates. The way we think about this history can increase or limit our appreciation of the diversity of perspectives on the moral sphere. For this reason, it can assist in naturalizing a given normative approach and in demonizing others.
Unfortunately, accounts of the character and development of bioethics are often marked by a general disregard for historical change and cultural context. In general, they have the effect of discouraging attempts to think beyond contemporary approaches to ethics. Their unreflective nature is such that the normative effects of particular historical views are unacknowledged.