Современные биоэтические проблемы в контексте основных принципов буддийской этики

Abstract

The relevance of this research consists in reconsideration of the main approaches to solving bioethical problems based on the religious and ethical principles of Buddhism. The purpose of this research is to analyze Buddhist principles that can be consistently applied to a range of biomedical problems (euthanasia, biomedical experiments with animals, etc.). The subject of our research is ethics in the context of medicine, namely the relationship between Buddhism and medical practice. The research materials are based on many years of teaching the bioethics course at St. Petersburg State University of Chemistry and Pharmacy and Tyumen State Medical University, as well as on the results of research related to the development of scientific research of bioethical issues. The central question of modern bioethics about the nature and status of the moral subject in Buddhism is based on the principle of the moral dignity of all living beings: from human life to the life of animals and, perhaps, even plants. Belief in interspecific rebirth and respect for animal life are typical of Buddhist ethics. In modern ethics, Buddhism is a teleological ethics of virtue, which postulates a certain end result of life as the implementation of human potential and asserts that this goal should be realized through cultivation of certain spiritual practices, which implies the rejection of euthanasia, abortion, artificial insemination and other dvanced medical technologies.