

































An Overall view of Bio Ethics practices in our day to day life and it`s remedies


Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2010;1(3);52-57

AN OVERALL VIEW OF BIO ETHICS PRACTICES IN OUR DAY TO DAY LIFE 
AND IT`S REMEDIES

Z. U. Ahmed 

Director , Makan Group, Dhaka .Email: payesz@yahoo.com

Abstract:  Historically,  ethics  has  been  considered  the  province  of  religion  i.e  moral 
theology and large, still remains so. In most cases religion provides an important answer to 
the question, why one should act ethically. The ancient Greeks were the first to examine 
ethics philosophically and thus independently to religion . The major proponents of it were 
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in the 5th & 4th centuries B.C. Now a days we can see lack of 
ethics everywhere of our life. This article try to find out –where & what are the ethics we 
are lacking behind in our day to days life and it`s probable remidies. Morality should be 
practiced and should start from the –“DINNING TABLE”. Beside this Government should 
pass down policies, which will facilitate this practice to get good citizens. The main thrust 
of  modern  ethics  or  moral  philosophy  is  to  attempt  to  lay  the  foundations  of  ethical 
conduct, which should be bear in mind with good faith.

Introduction: Ethics is related to morality . In the past the subject of ethics was known as 
–“Moral philosophy”-while knowledge of the physical world was referred to as-“Natural 
philosophy”.  Historically,  ethics has been considered the province of religion i.e moral 
theology and large, still remains so. In most cases religion provides an important answer to 
the question,- why one should act ethically. The ancient Greeks were the first to examine 
ethics philosophically and thus independently to religion . The major proponents of it were 
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in the 5th & 4th centuries B.C . Now a days we can see lack of 
ethics everywhere of our life. It include our personal life, family life, social life and official 
life. This article tries to find out –Where & what are the ethics we are lacking behind in our 
day to days life and it`s probable remidies . 

Historical Back Ground of implementing  ethics:  The belief that rational thinking and 
knowledge can lead to ethical behavior was very appealing. Plato believed that Philosopher 
kings can be trusted with unchecked power because their education will have given them 
knowledge of the forms,  inparticular  the form of the good, being eternal,  extra-mental 
realities. 

Socrates, unlike religion did not provide instruction how people should conduct their lives. 
Instead, he examined human conduct with the aim of leading a virtuous life. He believed in 

52

mailto:payesz@yahoo.com


Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2010;1(3);52-57

goodness but did not suggest how to achieve  it ?. His continuous questioning of things got 
him in trouble by being accused of corrupting the youth of Athens and he was put to death 
for it  .  We are at  this  moment  not in that  barbarian`s era but at  Mordarn era where –
openion of personal expression is honoured and logically discused with good faith.

Ethical Principles: The following principles (Thiroux, 1986) are guidelines for regulating 
ethical behavior.

 Value of Life – Human life has inviolable sanctity. “. . . it is always wrong to act in 
a  way  which  directly  intends  to  harm  or  to  kill  an  innocent  human  person” 
(Goodwin, 1985, p. 7).

 Goodness  or  Rightness –  Ethical  decisions  should  involve  the  principle  of  the 
greatest good for the greatest number. Doing good, in addition to refraining from 
doing evil, is required so that the consequences are good for the individual and for 
society.

 Justice  or  Fairness –  This  principle  relates  to  equality  of  treatment  and  fair 
distribution of benefits and burdens among members of society.

 Truth-telling or Honesty – Although ethical action should be based on the truth, 
this principle is complicated by issues related to who has a right to the truth and 
whether or not it is appropriate to withhold it. When do you know you have all of 
the facts and can determine what is true? Confidentiality (contact-keeping), related 
to honesty and individual freedom, poses its own set of complications: What do 
you do when human welfare conflicts with confidentiality? When do you break a 
promise?

 Individual  Freedom  –  Ethical  decisions  should  consider  the  principle  of  self-
determination. “. . . treat human beings as ends in themselves, never as means only” 
(Kant  in  Goodwin,  1985,  p.7).  Related  to  this  standard  are  the  following 
complexities: Whose right is uppermost when one person’s autonomy impinges on 
another? Who should speak for those who cannot speak for themselves? 

Ethical Reasoning Steps*
 Clarify the facts. 
 Identify the moral dilemma. What is the ethical question? 
 Identify and interpret the relevant ethical principles: value of life, goodness, justice, 

truth-telling, individual freedom. 
 Resolve the conflicts  among principles.  If  more  than one principle  is  involved, 

which one has precedence?
  State the moral decision. 
 Formulate a course of action—action steps: what and how, who, when. 

 * Adapted from the theory of Thiroux (1985).

53



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2010;1(3);52-57

Sectors where ethical improvement is immediately needed:

 Personal life
 Family life
 Social life
 Official life
 National life
 International life

Personal Life 

“Today’s  Personality  holder  is  tomorrow’s  Person’s  leader.”  So  it  has  got  utmost 
importance to get a well  groomed personal among the citizens of a country .This well 
groomed personality will provide a good person who will lead a good personal life along 
with other.

Family life

These well groomed persons together will make a happy family life.

Social life 

These well reputed family members together will form a civilized society-where ethics will 
be highlighted in its right spirit. 

Official life

At the same time these well reputed Family member will be the part of the office. As such 
they will be more disciplined, efficient and capable enough to achieve the organizational 
goal as well as the country goal.

National life 

Once  the  personal,  family,  social  and  official  life  is  disciplined  and  organized  –  The 
national life will be more prosperous, which will lead the country to the International arena 
with good reputation. 

International life 

Once all the nations are good, disciplined and have honor towards ethics in every aspect, 
then good faith & relation will be developed & maintained properly. As a result less war , 
less unrest will prevail in the world- which is our goal.

54



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2010;1(3);52-57

So, we can say grooming up of a kid in the right direction with ethics in every family is 
utmost important, which will ultimately lead a happy world. There could be –“Two way 
traffic” (Figure 1):  

 (1) One way (Down ward) is Government of that individual country by making 
policies regarding ethics in the parliament.

 (2) Another way (Upward) is “The family dinning table”- where family members 
will  introduce  the kid  with quality  ethics.  Here family member’s  need  to  give 
quality time to their kids and can provide knowledge on.

 Religious faith ( Good for person & society )
 Other sensible faith (good for person & society. May be an alternative of 

religious faith.)
 Righteous duties towards all.
 Others

(These  teachings  may  be  changed  with  the  passage  of  time  basing  on  the 
ground requirement to do good to others. For this a committee may be formed 
to introduce ethical handbook like UN-where all ethical subject matter will be 
written down with guide lines as per the ground requirement).   

An Ethical Social example: It is common to refer to the desire for material wealth, mostly 
expressed  in  terms  of  money,  as  "greed".   Webster's  dictionary  defines  greed  as 
"acquisitive  desire  beyond  reason".  On  the  other  hand,  the  pursuit  of  success  in  the 
scientific and engineering professions is referred to as "ambition".  Webster's dictionary 
defines ambition as "eager or inordinate desire for preferment, honor, superiority, power, 
or attainment". The connotation of these terms is so different that sometimes we tend to 
refer to an honest businessman as "greedy",  and to a dishonest scientist or engineer as 
"over ambitious". Yet, the consequences of an unethical behavior of an “over ambitious" 
scientist or engineer can often be more harmful then the unethical actions of a "greedy" 
businessman.  In  the  scandal  surrounding the  company Enron,  no one died  or  suffered 
physical injury. On the other hand, the developer of a drug or medical device that results in 
a faulty product can cause innumerable damage to life and health of many. Of course, in 
the latter  case, the marketing of the product also involves a profit consideration that is 
often vested with the same individuals, as it has been so widely demonstrated in the recent 
high tech euphoria.

55



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2010;1(3);52-57

Both the ways should work together – “Upward & Downward”. This is more opined 
below:

                                                                 (2) Upward-    Family teaching               
regarding ethics (Dinning table)

(1)Downward-

Government

Pass policies

Regarding

Ethics at

Parliament

 

Figure 1: Two- way ethical theory for implementation in our day to day life.

56

Personal 
life

International 

life

 Personal 
life 

Family life

 Personal 
life 

Social life

 Personal 
life 

Official life

 Personal 
life 

National 
life



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2010;1(3);52-57

Conclusion: The subject of ethics was of interest to human kind since before recorded 
history.   Historically,  ethics  has  been  considered  the  province  of  religion,  i.e.,  moral 
theology, and, by and large, still remains so. In most cases religion provides an important 
answer to the question why one should act ethically.

Bioethics  is  a  subset  of  the  larger  subject  of  ethics  that  is  concerned  with  biological 
themes. Ethics is related to morality. This morality should be practiced and should start 
from the  –“DINNING TABLE”.  Beside  this  Government  should  pass  down policies, 
which will facilitate these practices to get good citizens. The main thrust of modern ethics 
or moral philosophy is to attempt to lay the foundations of ethical conduct, which should 
be bear in mind with good faith.

Bibliography:

1. www.tutor2u.com

2. www.wikipedia.com 

3. www.cbhd.org

      4.  Darryl R.J.Macer Moral Games for teaching Bioethics. UNESCO Chair, 2008. 
Haifa, Israel. 

5. Arif Hossain & Shamima P Lasker. Importance of bioethics and Bangladesh 
Prospective. Asian Bioethics Review 2009;1(2):165-167.

6. Goodwin. 1985, p. 

      7. www.bioethics.com 

57

http://www.bioethics.com/

