Integrative Bioethics and Knowledge Landscapes

Abstract

Integrative bioethics is an innovative concept and project in the field of bioethics, which gathers various scientific approaches (multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity) and cultural approaches (pluriperspectivity) to the ethical issues of life and current life manipulations in the global technological society. It covers a broad spectrum of topics—from clinical medical practice and biomedical research, through human-animal relationships, to global-ecological problems. By doing so, integrative bioethics opposes any scientific and cultural reductionism and criticizes the regimes of total power over knowledge and life (represented by ruling models of techno-science, the economy, politics and media), which is the point where integrative bioethics meets “biopolitical theory”, on one hand, and the concept of “knowledge landscapes”, on the other hand. However, integrative bioethics not only addresses general questions on the nature of knowledge and science but also represents a solid framework for discussion on the specific issues from the fields of biomedical research, clinical medicine and healthcare, which become more and more complex in the context of the digital society, and what health agency means here. Integrative bioethics requires answers oriented towards theoretical, that is, scientific goals (knowledge of particular sciences and knowledge as an entirety of all the sciences); practical, that is, ethical, political and economic goals (background of the actions); and technical, that is, medical, biotechnological and information-technological goals (performing the actions). Drawing on works from “integrative bioethics” (e.g. Covic and Hoffmann, 2007; Juric, 2017), “biopolitical theory” (e.g. Foucault, 2008; Agamben, 1998) and the exploration of “knowledge landscapes” (e.g. Svalastog et al., 2017; Gajovic and Svalastog, 2016; Svalastog et al., 2015), this chapter will consider different aspects of the question of how the conceptual framework of integrative bioethics and its methodology can be applied in the context of the digital society, including the challenges of managing information that contributes towards knowledge and health.