Some Challenges and Risks in Bioethics in the 21st Century
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32870/sincronia.v30.n90.e1123Keywords:
Challenges, Bioethics, Law, Values, Duties, Deliberation, Moral philosophy, Transdisciplinary, BureaucracyAbstract
At the beginning of the second quarter of the twenty-first century, rapid biotechnological development has consolidated bioethics as an essential transdisciplinary field for bridging the life sciences and moral values. Its relevance rests on three dimensions: the duty to formulate rigorous theoretical responses to technoscientific change, the opportunity to integrate the sciences and humanities through prudent deliberation, and the challenge of educating for responsible coexistence on a planetary scale. However, these dimensions are threatened by conceptual, methodological and institutional deviations that may weaken its transformative capacity. These include the dilution of its scope, insufficient training in moral philosophy among practitioners, professional precarity, and the replacement of deliberation by bureaucratic procedures or legal rigidity, placing the discipline between dogmatism and radical relativism. Based on the premise that truth in applied bioethics is not an immutable absolute but an intersubjective construction grounded in rational and contextual consensus, this article examines these risks and argues that they arise from abandoning theoretical responsibility, transdisciplinary dialogue and the ethical-normative commitment demanded by the contemporary world.
Downloads
References
Aquino, T. (1990). Suma de Teología III, parte II-II (a). Madrid: BAC.
Ayanoğlu, F. B., Elçin, A. E., & Elçin, Y. M. (2020). Bioethical issues in genome editing by CRISPR-Cas9 technology. Turkish journal of biology = Turk biyoloji dergisi, 44(2), 110–120. https://doi.org/10.3906/biy-1912-52.
Baker, R. (2002). From Metaethicist to Bioethicist. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 11(4), 369–379. doi:10.1017/S0963180102114101.
Beauchamp T. L. (2003). Methods and principles in biomedical ethics. Journal of medical ethics, 29(5), 269–274. https://doi.org/10.1136/jme.29.5.269.
Bilbeny, N. (2016). Reglas para el diálogo en situaciones de conflicto. Madrid: Catarata.
Blackburn, S. (2002). Sobre la bondad. España: Paidós.
Capili, B., & Anastasi, J. K. (2024). Ethical Research and the Institutional Review Board: An Introduction. The American journal of nursing, 124(3), 50–54. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NAJ.0001008420.28033.e8.
Farías Trujillo, E. y Hall, R. T. (2020). Bioética clínica: una breve introducción. México: Secretaría de Sald/Comisión Nacional de Bioética,.
Farías Trujillo, E., Castaño Meneses, V. M., Hall, R. T. y Medina Arellano, M J. (2023). Hacia una definición descriptiva de la Inteligencia Colectiva (IC) y su probable aplicabilidad como metodología en la bioética, en Hincapie Sanchez, J., Fortoul Vander Goes, T. y Fajardo Dolci, G. (Coords.), Tópicos Selectos de Bioética II, Tirant lo Blanch, México, 165-190.
Feito, L. (2019). Bioética narrativa, Observatorio de bioética. https://www.fpablovi.org/articulos-bioetica/750-bioetica-narrativa.
Ferrer, J. J. y Álvarez, J. C. (2003). Para fundamentar la bioética. Bilbao: Ed. Universidad Pontificia Comillas-Ed. Desclée De Brouwer.
Fletcher, J. (1954). Morals and Medicine: The Moral Problems of: The Patient's Right to Know the Truth, Contraception, Artificial Insemination, Sterilization, and Euthanasia. Princeton: NJ: Princeton University Press.
Fowers, B. J., Novak, L. F., Selim, M., Chandran, L., & Kristjánsson, K. (2025). Contributions of neo-Aristotelian phronesis to ethical medical practice. Theoretical medicine and bioethics, 46(2), 121–136. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11017-024-09695-x.
Funghi, P., Giunta, F., & Paonessa, C. (Eds.). (2013). Medicina, bioetica e diritto: I problemi e la loro dimensione normativa (2ª ed.). Pisa: Edizioni ETS.
Garcia Camino, B., & Hall, R. T. (2020). Bioethics and the Law in Mexico. Revista De Bioética Y Derecho, (49), 107–123. https://doi.org/10.1344/rbd2020.49.28625.
Ghooi R. B. (2011). The Nuremberg Code-A critique. Perspectives in clinical research, 2(2), 72–76. https://doi.org/10.4103/2229-3485.80371
Gracia, D. (2001). La deliberación moral: el método de la ética clínica, Medicina Clínica 117 (2001), 18-23. https://www.elsevier.es/es-revista-neurologia-295-pdf-S0025775301719987.
Gracia, D. (2017). Una entrevista, en Bioética complutense 32. https://www.ucm.es/data/cont/docs/137-2017-12-21-Revista%2032.pdf, pp. 3-9.
Gracia, D. (2019). Bioética y bioderecho, EIDON, nº 52, 52:1-2. DOI: 10.13184/eidon.52.2019.1-2.
Gracia, D. (2025). El animal deliberante: Teoría y práctica de la deliberación moral, Madrid: Triacastela.
Grady C. (2015). Institutional Review Boards: Purpose and Challenges. Chest, 148(5), 1148–1155. https://doi.org/10.1378/chest.15-0706.
Guerra Palmero, M. J (2013). Introducción, casuística y razonamiento moral, en Hall R. T. y Arellano J. S., La casuística, una metodología para la ética aplicada, México: FONTAMARA-UAQ.
Haileamlak A. (2023). A Brief Overview of Bioethics. Ethiopian journal of health sciences, 33(3), 390. https://doi.org/10.4314/ejhs.v33i3.1.
Häyry M. (2025). Bioethics and the Value of Human Life. Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics: CQ: the international journal of healthcare ethics committees, 34(2), 220–230. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963180124000331.
Heredia-Antúnez, A., Galarde-López, M., Téllez-Ballesteros, E., & Vanda-Cantón, B. (2023). Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices on Ethics in Biomedical Animal Research in Mexico. Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science: JAALAS, 62(6), 478–486. https://doi.org/10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-23-000012.
Klimovich-Mickael, A., Sacharczuk, M., & Mickael, M. E. (2025). Navigating the Nexus of Bioethics and Geopolitics: Implications for Global Health Security and Scientific Collaboration. Journal of bioethical inquiry, 22(1), 187–194. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-024-10379-3.
Koechlin F. (2009). The dignity of plants. Plant signaling & behavior, 4(1), 78–79. https://doi.org/10.4161/psb.4.1.7315.
Laurie G. T. (2022). Promoting Dialogue through Diversity in Bioethics. Asian bioethics review, 15(1), 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41649-022-00235-0.
Levy N. (2019). Taking Responsibility for Responsibility. Public health ethics, 12(2), 103–113. https://doi.org/10.1093/phe/phz001.
Llano Escobar, A. (2009). Naturaleza del objeto de nuestra revista: la bioética. ¿Qué entendemos hoy por bioética? Selecciones de Bioética, Bogotá: PUJ, pp. 3-6. http://www.cenalbe.org.co/PDF/seleccionesNo.15.pdf.
Machado, A. (1924). Nuevas canciones. Madrid: Mundo Nuevo.
Marina, J. A. (2018). Ética para náufragos. Barcelona: Anagrama.
Nguyen, T. T. B., Kao, C. Y., Hsu, Y. Y., & Resna, R. W. (2025). Ethical Challenges in Abortion Decision-Making: Perspectives from Perimenopausal Women's Nursing Care. Investigacion y educacion en enfermeria, 43(1), e01. https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.iee.v43n1e01.
Parker M. J. (2025). Bioethics and the value of disagreement. Journal of medical ethics, 52(1), 7–13. https://doi.org/10.1136/jme-2024-110174
Pasternak, J., & Glina, S. (2014). Paying reviewers for scientific papers and ethical committees. Einstein (Sao Paulo, Brazil), 12(3), vii–ix. https://doi.org/10.1590/s1679-45082014ed3259.
Prince, A. E. R., Berkman, B., Ford, D., Fox, D., Guerrini, C., Koopmann, A., Ram, N., Roberts, J. L., Spector-Bagdady, K., & Suter, S. (2026). Putting the L in ELSI: legal methods for bioethics research. Journal of law and the biosciences, 13(2), lsag002. https://doi.org/10.1093/jlb/lsag002.
Ratzinger, J. (2001). NOTIFICACIÓN sobre algunos escritos del RVDO. P. MARCIANO VIDAL, C.Ss.R. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20010515_vidal_sp.html.
Redondo García, A. (2022). El método de la deliberación y su aplicación a las cuestiones relativas a los confines de la vida humana. EIDON, (57), 17–30. https://doi.org/10.13184/eidon.57.2022.17-30.
Ribeiro Toral, G. (2015). Verdad y argumentación jurídica. México: Porrúa.
Rivero Weber, P. (2021). Introducción a la bioética. México: FCE.
Ruiz de Chávez M. H. (2018). Bioética y derechos humanos. XXV años de reflexiones. México: Fontamara.
Saiz, C., & Rivas, S. F. (2023). Critical Thinking, Formation, and Change. Journal of Intelligence, 11(12), 219. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence11120219.
Sass, H. M. (2009). European roots of bioethics: Fritz Jahr’s 1927 definition and vision of bioethics. Covic, A., Gosic, N., Tomasevic, L. (edts.). From new Medical Ethics to integrative Bioethics. Zagreb: Pergamena.
Sass, H. M. (2011). El pensamiento bioético de Fritz Jahr 1927-1934. Aesthethika, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 20-33. https://aesthethika.org/El-pensamiento-bioetico-de-Fritz.
Savater, F. (2003). Las preguntas de la vida. México: Planeta.
Sell, K., Hommes, F., Fischer, F., & Arnold, L. (2022). Multi-, Inter-, and Transdisciplinarity within the Public Health Workforce: A Scoping Review to Assess Definitions and Applications of Concepts. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(17), 10902. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191710902.
Shaw, D., Rodriguez Perez, C., & Persson, K. (2024). Slaying the Swiss Unicorn of Animal Dignity. Animals: an open access journal from MDPI, 14(3), 507. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14030507.
Shea M. (2025). The Ethics of Clinical Ethics. HEC forum: an interdisciplinary journal on hospitals' ethical and legal issues, 37(3), 389–410. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10730-024-09544-3.
Shetty N. (2023). Medical Ethics and Law. Indian journal of orthopaedics, 57(11), 1744–1747. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43465-023-00972-w.
Tsan, M. F., & Puglisi, J. T. (2023). Protecting human subjects participating in research. American journal of translational research, 15(9), 5707–5714.
UNESCO (2005). Guía Nº 1. Creación de comités de bioética. Francia. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000139309_spa.
University of California, San Diego. (2017). Human Research Protections Program Institutional Review Board Standard Operating Policies and Procedures. https://irb.ucsd.edu/_files/HRPP_SOPP_11-2010.pdf.
Valera L. (2025). Time to expand a paradigm: Healthcare sustainability and eco-ethical assessment. Bioethics, 39(6), 530–537. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.70008.
Varkey B. (2021). Principles of Clinical Ethics and Their Application to Practice. Medical principles and practice: international journal of the Kuwait University, Health Science Centre, 30(1), 17–28. https://doi.org/10.1159/000509119.
Wittrock J. (2025). A human right to assisted dying? Autonomy, dignity, and exceptions to the right to life. Nursing ethics, 32(7), 2033–2043. https://doi.org/10.1177/09697330251328655.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Eduardo Farías Trujillo

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes .
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.























