Introduction: The Culture of Ubuntu

Abstract

Bioethics is a relatively new formal academic discipline. An increasing sense of the significance of Global Bioethics is emerging in which indigenous cultures are recognized as making valuable contributions to the general field of bioethics. The culture of Ubuntu is a representative example of an indigenous African ethics that can contribute to an emerging understanding of Global Bioethics. Ubuntu, which has existed for centuries, is a sub-Sahara African culture that refers to respectful treatment of all people as sharing, caring, and living in harmony with all creation.