ABSTRACT
An important challenge for the development of a sound democracy in Europe is the effort to strengthen the ethical awareness of decision-makers, in particular regarding the mechanisms and principles of protection of human beings in the biopolitics of COVID-19.
This is a new challenge for sustainability in times of the Anthropocene; COVID-19 is a paradoxical consequence of the Anthropocene.
This chapter analyses the theoretical positions and arguments from a normative theoretical approach to basic ethical principles in bioethics and biolaw, related to the COVID-19 crisis through the methods of a literature review and critical hermeneutics. The theory of ethical responsibility is important as the foundation of ethics, particularly in the fields of politics and economics in modern civilisation marked by globalisation and technological progress. Today, we need global ethical principles for protection of the individual human being in times of the Anthropocene, including pandemic ethics.
Maintaining an ethical vision in the management of the COVID-19 crisis is an important finding. A concern for the most vulnerable in the process of overcoming COVID-19 is needed. A focus on basic ethical principles of autonomy, dignity, integrity, and vulnerability in protecting humans is important in bioethics and biolaw in times of the Anthropocene.
