Religious Perspectives on Bioethics and Human Rights

PART I: Theoretical Discussions.- 1. Respect for Cultural Diversity and Pluralism (Henk Ten Have).- 2 Cultural Diversity in UNESCO Bioethics (John Lunstroth).- 3 Human Rights and the Relational Self: A Personalist Approach (Denis Chang).- 4 Convergence of Human Rights and Duties: Towards a Global Bioethics (Alberto Garcia, John Lunstroth, Dominique J. Monlezun, Claudia R. Sotomayor).- PART II: Asian Religions-Buddhism.- 5 On Human Rights and Freedom in Bioethics: A Philosophical Inquiry in Light of Buddhism (Ellen Y. Zhang).- 6 A Response to Ellen Zhang's "On Human Rights and Freedom in Biomedical Ethics: A Philosophical Inquiry in Light of Buddhism" (Soraj Hongladarom).- 7 A Response to Ellen Zhang's "On Human Rights and Freedom in Biomedical Ethics: A Philosophical Inquiry in Light of Buddhism" (Colleen M. Gallagher).- PART III: Asian Religions-Confucianism.- 8 Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights: A Confucian Critique (Jonathan Chan).- 9 Developing Confucian Virtue-based Rights: A Response to Jonathan Chan's Confucian Critique of the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (Ruiping Fan and Wenqing Zhao).- 10 Response to Jonathan Chan, Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights: A Confucian critique (Alex Yeung).- PART IV: Asian Religions-Daoism.- 11 Daoism and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and Bioethics (Bede Benjamin Bidlack).- 12 Daoism and Human Rights: Integrating the Incommensurable (David A. Palmer).- 13 Daoism, Human Rights, and Bioethics (Roland Chia).- PART V: Asian Religions-Hinduism.- 14 Duties and Rights in Hinduism: Before and After India's Independence (Prakash N. Desai).- 15 UNESCO on Cultural Diversity, Bioethics, and Hinduism (John Lunstroth).- 16 Hinduism and Human Rights (Martha Tarasco).- PART VI: Monotheistic Religions-Christianity & Catholicism.- 17 The Christian-Catholic religious perspective: Human rights, cultural pluralism and bioethics (Laura Palazzani).- 18 The Dialectical

Joseph Tham was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to Canada at the age of fifteen. At the University of Toronto, he first majored in Mathematical Sciences and then graduated from Medical School. After several years of work as a family physician, he entered the seminary of the Legionaries of Christ and was ordained a priest in 2004. As a part of this preparation, he has obtained his degrees in philosophy and theology at Rome's Regina Apostolorum Pontifical university, where he also completed his post-graduate studies in bioethics. He successfully defended his doctoral dissertation with high honors on "The Secularization of Bioethics-A Critical History" under the direction of Dr. Edmund Pellegrino, former Chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics. He presently teaches bioethics in Regina Apostolorum and is the Dean of the School of Bioethics. He is the author of The Missing Cornerstone (2004, 2009), The Secularization of Bioethics (2007) and Bioetica al Futuro (2010). He isthe editorial coordinator of Studia Bioethica and a Fellow of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights.

Kai Man Kwan is a distinguished professor teaching in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at the Baptist University in Hong Kong. He graduated with an M.Phil in Philosophical Theology (1991) and a PhD in Philosophy of Religion (1993) both from Oxford University while holding a plethora of other degrees from University of Hong Kong and University of Aberdeen. Professor Kwan has a stellar record of over 30 years of teaching experience in over 15 courses, with a specialization in topics of philosophy and religion. Courses he taught include the "Philosophy and the Meaning of Life," "Quest for Truth and Meaning" and "Approaches to the Study of Religion," to name a few. He has an extensive list of well-received publications such as the journal article "Replication and Theory Development in Organizational Science: A Critical Realist Perspective". (1999) He is also the author of