African Bioethics. A Comparative Review

Abstract

Cultural bioethics is a response to the dominance of the Western approach in bioethics and medical ethics, whereby Western bioethics is identified mainly with principalism and less often with utilitarianism. Moreover, Western bioethics is perceived as a part of the postcolonial Western supremacy. As a result of this cultural turn, Confucian, Japanese, Latin and African bioethics emerged. The article is a comparative review of the main concepts, issues and branches of African bioethics. It focuses on Bantu and Igbo bioethics. Despite the differences between the authors, a common element shared by most representatives of African bioethics is criticism of individualism and of other Western cultural patterns that are incompatible with African medical challenges and cultural practices.