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Bioethics in Thailand: An Update

It is now nearly 20 years since the publication in the Hastings Center Report of the article I wrote on this subject, “Thailand: Refining Cultural Values”. Since then, there have been notable efforts among Thai bioethicists to analyse moral issues arising from advances in scientific research and technology which affect human well-being. These issues are tackled according to the moral insights and ethical values in Buddhism. Reference to Buddhism is important because it underpins Thai culture. Any solution of ethical problems must be in line with Buddhist teaching to be morally acceptable for Thai Buddhists, who form 96% of the total national population. In Buddhist ethical thinking, compassion and interdependence are two fundamental values. Compassion implies beneficence, non-maleficence and justice, much emphasised in Western bioethics. Even the modern concepts of human dignity and human rights are included in this value. However, the Buddhist value of interdependence is not congruous with that of autonomy in Western culture. It does not support the idea of selfhood as such, for the concept of interdependence does not advocate the existence of an isolated and autonomous self without relationship to others, be it fellow humans, society or nature. This concept is not in opposition to the value of human rights. It only sets the limits on the exercise of individual rights without consideration of its effects on the others. It thus leads to what we may call responsible individualism, much needed in ethical thinking today.