BIOMEDICAL INVESTIGATION IN THE
CONTEXT OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STRATEGIES
Yadvigha Yaskevich
National Institute for Higher Education
of The Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus
The formation of such a new interdisciplinary sphere of investigation as bioethics helped to actualize more adequate the model of interact between the doctor and the patient based on democratic values: solidarity, compassion, collaboration, dialogue and communicative interests.
Bioethics as an interdisciplinary scientific trend gets its flesh in the context of stylistics commonly characteristic
for the post-non-classical science of the last third of the XX century as a whole when it was entered by such unusual for
classic science ideals as well-being of a man and mankind, the good and morals, one's duty and responsibility for the results achieved in the process of scientific investigation of human-size objects.
The targets of bioethics are based on introduction of new :medical technologies into practice (such methods as artificial impregnation, surrogate motherhood, prenatal diagnostics), actualization of problems of organ transplantation,
euthanasia, biomedical experiments with involvement of human beings and animals, inevitability of moral, ethic and legal
regulation of collisions arising in the process of biomedical investigations, created a kind of a social demand concerning
the development of bioethics.
Thirty years period of existence of this interdisciplinary trend uniting biological knowledge and human values
which is a "systematic investigation of human behavior in the field of sciences concerning life and health care so far as
this behavior is considered in the context of moral values and principles", was connected to the dynamics of bioethical
problems – starting with the empirical description of doctor’s morals and finishing with the philosophic-reflection concerning the morals in the sphere of biomedical investigations. Already from the beginning of the second half of 80s bioethics shows the development of biomedical technologies accompanied by accumulation of a wide philosophic knowledge
transforming conceptual foundations of traditional model of bioethics of the Western type.
The modern paradigm of bioethics is characterized with a radical shift from the ways of empirical description of medical morals to acute philosophic reflection dealing with the base of morals of biomedical investigations, its own understanding of
moral values, broadening a field of problems with inclusion into it not only moral and philosophic components, but also the components of law and uniting different kinds of the system of values; biological ones (physical existence, health, freedom from pain,
etc.); social values (equal possibilities, availability of all kinds of medical services, etc); ecological values (understanding of initial
value of nature, its unique character; co-evolution); personal values (security, self-respect etc).
The moral and legal aspects of biomedical knowledge in the Republic of Belarus, biomedical and ecological public
health care control in contaminated Belarusian territories shows the dramatic dynamics of growth of disease cases among the
adults and especially children, of complex contamination of the environment not with radionuclides only, but with chemical
substances too which is followed by a long-term post-catastrophe emotional and psychological stress and widely spread feeling
of :anxiety that arouses and lasts for a long time among the inhabitants of not only the contaminated territories, but also of the
whole country.
Bioethics can significantly contribute into the evaluation of the environment state as well as public health dynamics and prophylaxis.
Thus, bioethics as a socio-cultural phenomenon determines cooperation in our society as well as the mutual enrichment of judicial and ethic conscious to a considerable extent and mutually enriches the legal and the ethic conscious,
setting landmarks and beacons for the biomedical practice and taking management decisions, providing ethic climate in the
scientific community, in collectives of medical professionals, as well as the adequate ethical choice exercised by medical
professionals, biologists and bio-technologists, and for their intervention in the sphere of life, of social and legal responsibility in informing the society for the results of their scientific and practical activities.
Doctor of philosophy, professor
Vice-rector of the National Institute for Higher Education
of The Belarusian State University
Moskowskaya str., 15
220007, Minsk
Republic of Belarus
Ph.: +375 17 228-13-16
Fax: +375 17 222-83-15
E-mail: yaskev@nihe.niks.by