Carolina Consejo-y Chapela, Departamento de Historia y Filosofía de la Medicina, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México
Introduction: The modern concept of bioethics emerged in the context of the experiences humanity faced during the 20th century, including totalitarian regimes and fascism during the Second World War, concerns regarding the effects of human exploitation of the environment and other species, as well as issues of justice in the distribution of resources resulting from scientific and technological advances. In recent years, there has been a resurgence of virtue ethics in contemporary bioethics. Objective: To analyze the importance of reconsidering a secular virtue ethics approach for bioethical education, understood as the formation of moral agency in citizens, and its relationship with governance in a real deliberative democracy, including citizen roles, as public health servants. Conclusions: An epistemological and educational approach based on a secular and de-ideologized virtue ethics is essential for governance and the development of a civic bioethical culture concerned with the well-being of others, other species, the environment, and both present and future generations.
Keywords: Bioethics. Agency. Virtue ethics. Governance.