ABSTRACT
This chapter considers to what extent a globalization of bioethics can be justified and what the likely negative side-effects of such a globalization may be. It suggests that there are many instances where what is taking place under the name of globalization is not a true globalization of bioethics, but instead a spread of what the legal theorist Bonaventura de Sousa Santos has called globalized localisms', the introduction of specific institutional arrangements and value systems indigenous to western culture, across the globe. The first part of this chapter is mainly theoretical, whereas the second part is more practical. As an initial consideration this ought to inspire certain humility in our globalization attempts. Scepticism about a certain strong version of the globalization of ethics does therefore not necessarily imply moral relativism or nihilism, but just something that we might call moral fallibilism. It finally considers the globalization of respect for autonomy and its potential negative effects on justice and wellbeing.
