Ethical consideration is an inseparable part of policy-making in modern society. Biomedical ethics is an interdisciplinary study of ethical issues that result from advances in medical practices and research. Because these issues often arise at the bedside, society must provide solutions or judgments that are effective and applicable. Thus, the development and progress of biomedical ethics has been made possible via the cooperation of experts from diverse backgrounds. The biomedical ethics discourse should not be seen as a conflict between values but as a collective activity for problem-solving. To support this perspective on ethics discourse, a historical perspective on biomedical ethics in Korea was given emphasis on the participants and their perspectives. Major cases and the changes resulting therefrom were discussed with the agenda proposed. The Korean situation with respect to ethics development shows the interactions between groups participating in policy development and its collaborative nature.
*Bioethics/history ; *Ethics, Medical/history ; Health Policy ; History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; Humans ; Republic of Korea

When we think about ethics or morals, we tend to look at them from the viewpoint of here and now. Actual implications of then and there, however, could be different. That is why we should study history of bio-ethics along with philosophy involved in it. Bio-medical ethics is situated in spatial and cultural dimension as well as temporal and historical. Dentistry has been in a peculiar situation in that although it has evolved from the same root as medicine it has become separate discipline. Ethical implications of dentistry, however, share the historical and philosophical background with its mother discipline, i.e., medicine, surgery, barber-surgery and even smithery. This paper tries to grasp the main ideas of bio-medical ethics from the ancient Greek and China and picks up three of them as guiding principles, i.e., deontology and teleology from the west and self-cultivation from the east, It also tracks down the contents of modern biomedical ethics; from etiquette to ethics, from morals to contract (ethics of autonomy), and ethics of professional responsibility. Finally it reviews and analyzes two different traditions of dental professional regulation from the legal and ethical point of view (U.S. and Europe), and proposes a new direction for the construction of dental ethics in Korea.
Bioethics/*history ; Dentistry/*ethics ; English Abstract ; History of Medicine, 21st Cent. ; History of Medicine, Ancient ; History of Medicine, Early Modern ; History of Medicine, Medieval ; History of Medicine, Modern ; Korea ; Philosophy, Medical/*history