Abstract:

Communication through new technologies opens the space and the style of exchanging information. Institutes and universities offer online resources, many lectures and workshops are recorded and accessible in Internet. Education in Bioethics could expand with the communication technologies. Indeed, in professional and academic sets, many changes are going on, thanks to the ICT. But they are much more than useful tools; they have their own rules and impose some constrictions, as every technology usually does. At the same time, the new channels for the exchange of information could not transform, by themselves, the old practices nor efface the difficult issues either. In Bioethics, the use of the ICT and, especially, of Internet represents a challenge and, actually, it raises many questions. The main question is not only how exchanges and dissemination of bioethical information could be modified by the intensive use of the ICT. The question is rather how these ICT influence or even alter the production of bioethical discourse. Which model would be more suitable for the new channels?
(1) At least there are three models of theory, based on principles, on evidences, and on narrative. Bioethics and its turns go more and more online, but which one? (2) The affinity between individual autonomy in Bioethics and the fragmentation in cyberspace would explain some agreements and, at the same time, some estrangements between practical argumentation and the use of the ITCs. (3) For instance, because of some salient traits of Internet, probably some debates online about basic principles and about specific data could be less versatile than the storytelling about singular cases in Bioethics. The narrative turn, could be amplified by the new channels? (4) This is only a suggestion, since the ITCs and Internet offer a wide range of possibilities, in every area.

Keywords:

Bioethics.