Bioethics

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Marble portrait bust of Hippocrates atop a tall rectangular base inscribed with an epigram in Greek, displayed against a black background.

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Marble portrait bust of Hippocrates atop a tall rectangular base inscribed with an epigram in Greek, displayed against a black background. — Hippocrates A Roman bust of Hippocrates, copied from a Greek original, c. 3rd century bce; in the collection of the Antichità di Ostia, Italy.

Bioethics

applied ethics

Written by

Ruth Felicity Chadwick

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Oct. 31, 2026 •History

Bioethics, branch of applied ethics that studies the philosophical, social, and legal issues arising in medicine and the life sciences. It is chiefly concerned with human life and well-being, though it sometimes also treats ethical questions relating to the nonhuman biological environment. (Such questions are studied primarily in the independent fields of environmental ethics [see environmentalism] and animal rights.) (Read Peter Singer’s Britannica entry on ethics.) The range of issues considered to fall within the...

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