2010 年 28 巻 p. 66-72
Although modern bioethics, as a scientific discipline, was originally seen as secular rather than religious, some aspects of bioethics have developed a religious propensity over the past few years. Yasunori Ando, a Japanese religious philosopher and Masaru Ikezawa, a Japanese religious scientist, in analyzing the relationship between bioethics and religion concluded that the two are actually closely connected. Within bioethics, there is one approach that aims to generate consensus about bioethical issues when inquiring into the fundamental nature or essence of matters. The latter sometimes overlaps with religious thinking and concepts. Even though religious rights should always be defended in the public arena, religious reasons or reasoning alone cannot guarantee the validity of any assertion. Thus the dialogical bioethical aspect has an important role to play here as the interface between the two approaches can lead to fresh, new development.