Absolutely Essential: Inside Dr. Jonathan Moreno’s Vision for Global Bioethics

Dr. Jonathan Moreno, the David and Lyn (Silfen) University Emeritus Professor and Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, shares key insights from his acclaimed book, “Absolutely Essential: Bioethics and the Rules-Based International Order.”
The document explains how Dr. Jonathan D. Moreno links the birth of modern bioethics to the Nuremberg trials, where informed consent and respect for human dignity became core principles of both medical research and the post WWII liberal democratic order. It shows how these bioethical norms rest on universal human rights and philosophical ideas of equality, and how they are now strained by a fracturing rules based system, rising nationalism, and emerging technologies such as AI. The interview highlights shifts in global science from the decline of Russian research capacity to China’s rise as a peer competitor and stresses that genuine scientific progress remains inherently multinational despite growing geopolitical tensions. COVID 19 is presented as a stress test that exposed weaknesses in global bioethics through vaccine nationalism, corporate dominance, and inequitable access, reinforcing the need to rethink ethics beyond individual autonomy toward a “pandemic era bioethics” balancing personal rights and public health. Dr. Moreno also underscores the importance of international organizations like the WHO, the growing power of corporations relative to states, and key geopolitical events that, in his view, mark the end of the old post war order issues he develops further in his book “Absolutely Essential: Bioethics and the Rules-Based International Order.”
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