Human Dignity and Human Rights： A Universal Language for Bioethics.pdfVIP

PhilosophyStudy，ISSN 2159-5313 January2014，Vo1．4，No．1，11-19 a LI暑 H IN 塌 HumanDignityandHumanRights： AUniversalLanguageforBioethics BenedictFaneye UniversityofIbadan OneoftheaimsoftheUniversalDeclarationonBioethicsandHumna Rights(UNESCO)isto“promoterespectfor humandigniyt andprotecthumanrights”．Herearetwo overarching principlesatwork，ensuringthatthe biomedicalsciencesfulfilltheirtaskwithinanethicalrfamework．Theprincipleofrespectforhumandignityisa universalmoralconcept，meanttobeappliedinhumanencounters．Protectinghumna rightsunderscoresthelegal principleofnotonlyaffirmingthefundamentalequaliytofallhumanbeings，butequallysafeguardingit．Thesetwo principlesareuniversallydefined，butareordinrailyspecifiedbytheparticularvaluesystem ofindividualcultures inwhichtheyareemployed．Itiswithinsuchparticularculturalapplicationthattheirrelevancestandsout．The thrustofthispaperisthat，sinceprinciplesraegeneralactionguides，theyactuallyconstituteauniversallanguage fortheanalysisandevaluationofallhumanconduct．However,thereisalsorecognitionofthefactthatmoral contextsvaryfrom culturetoculture，andthatwhilethescopeofthetwoprinciplesaboveisnotrestrictedbyany particularculture，itisindeedthoseculturalspecificsofeachmoralcontextthatconstitutetherfameworkwithin whichtheprinciplesbecomeoperationa1．Asgeneralactionguides，1willarguethattheseprincipleslackmoral relevna ceoutsideofthoseparticularculturalse~ingswherein theyraecontextualized．W ithoutsuchrelevance， theseprinciplesbecomemeaninglessmanuas．1willfurthershow thatsuchprinciplesdonotmerelyupholdvalues infomr ed by particularcultures，butthey are anembod