Bioethics in Russia: a Complex Scientific Discipline at the Intersection of Philosophy, Biology, Culture and Law

Abstract

The article describes the formation of bioethics — a complex scientific discipline — in our country. The emergence of bioethics in the world dates back to the 1970s of the 20th century, in the Soviet Union it began to take shape during the period of perestroika as part of the activities of Academician Ivan Timofeevich Frolov (1929–1999). Bioethics deals with ethical issues that arise during the introduction of the latest biomedical technologies into practice, the solution of which can have various medical, cultural, legal, and financial consequences. The latest biomedical technologies open up new possibilities for a person (heredity management, genetic passport, etc.) and put a person in a situation of choice. Their future depends on what choice people will make, and this choice is determined by the state of the culture of society. In the field of bioethics, regulation is crucial and should be comprehensive and multi-stage. Philosophers, culturologists, and ethicists formulate general principles of regulation based on the ideology of humanism. Further on, scientists consider these recommendations and develop appropriate codes of conduct, while lawyers consolidate the new understanding within the legal system. The formation of such an integrated approach in Russia took place within the framework of scientific structures created by Academician I. T. Frolov, — the AllUnion Interdepartmental Center for Human Sciences, the Institute of Man of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian National Committee on Bioethics (RNKB), the Russian Committee on Bioethics under the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO. In these structures, expert work was carried out on the main documents related to the interaction of the Russian Federation with the Council of Europe in the field of bioethics. RNKB prepared expert opinions for the Department of European Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Department for International Humanitarian Cooperation and Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation regarding Russia's accession to international conventions on bioethics.