Please join Countway Library and the HMS Center for Bioethics for a special Author Series event with Jonathan Moreno about his new book:

Absolutely Essential: Bioethics and the Rules-Based International Order

What the end of the post-World War II global political system means for bioethics and beyond.

In Absolutely Essential, Jonathan Moreno explores the field of bioethics as both a creature and a key element of the post–World War II rules-based order. According to this order, international relations are to be organized according to principles of open markets, liberal democracy, and multilateral organizations.

Drawing on the author’s four decades of experience in the field, the book raises key questions about the future of bioethics in a changed world order, while also theorizing new ways to think about bioethics after the COVID-19 pandemic and the reordering of global alliances. For bioethicists, this book will contextualize the field in an entirely new light, while readers unfamiliar with bioethics will appreciate that this seemingly esoteric field is in fact a paradigmatic creation of the global system now undergoing sweeping change.

Bioethics and the rules-based international order don't usually find their way into the same sentence, but Jonathan Moreno's masterful history of the development of the international framework for protecting human rights, human dignity and human agency when pursuing scientific breakthroughs underscores what is at stake today when governments, including our own, seek to dismantle that order. ~John Podesta, White House Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton

Absolutely Essential should be required reading for anyone seeking to understand what’s at stake in today’s turbulent political and social landscape when it comes to medicine. As rising political forces challenge the foundations of the post–World War II rules-based order, Moreno—one of the world’s foremost bioethicists—offers a compelling examination of the consequences for public health.~Sharon Weinberger, author of The Imagineers of War: The Untold Story of DARPA, the Pentagon Agency That Changed the World

Jonathan Moreno

Jonathan D. Moreno is the David and Lyn Silfen University Professor Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania. He has served as a staff member or adviser to many governmental and nongovernmental organizations, including three US presidential commissions, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee. He is a recipient of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities Lifetime Achievement Award.

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We are committed to making this event accessible to all participants. The space is wheelchair accessible, microphones will be used for speakers, and assistive listening devices are available for use. Please reach out to countwayoutreach@hms.harvard.edu if you have any accessibility needs or questions.