Feminist Bioethics

Abstract

This chapter offers an account of the central issues and themes in feminist philosophical engagements with bioethics. After outlining the history and goals of feminist bioethics, I discuss how feminist ontology and epistemology have generated the distinguishing features of feminist bioethical approaches, including both the substantive topics addressed and the particular ethical areas highlighted. Among these areas are: attention to power dynamics and social context; the use of empirical information to inform ethical theory; a focus on relationality, care, and embodiment; and an acknowledgement of minority viewpoints that are often excluded from mainstream bioethics. In taking these distinctive approaches, feminist bioethics has also made major theoretical contributions to moral philosophy: here I discuss (i) the ethics of care and (ii) relational autonomy. Finally, I consider the extent to which feminist work has changed or entered the mainstream, and look to current and future directions in feminist bioethics.