The tautology in the word "bioethics"

Abstract

This article analyzes the meanings of the terms that compose the word Bioethics and understands that these meanings have consequences in the dimensions of investigation for the discipline. Our argumentation aims to demonstrate a tautology in the composition of the term “bioethics,” whether in the composition of the term using words of ancient Greek thought, as bios and ethos, or using terms such as bio and ethics, already consecrated in the eighteenth century and thus incorporated into Modern science’s consolidation. We do not propose any other term to replace it, but we indicate the possibility of an impoverished understanding of the meaning of Bioethics, due to a “vicious” tautology in the modern composition. Our proposal is to put ourselves to hear with greek ears for the “lost” meaning of êthos and bios in a way that can resound its original senses in the program of Bioethics. A tautology yet, however, virtuous.