Global ethics

Abstract

"The spires of the Twin Towers cut a majestic form upon the Kuala Lumpur skyline, a metropolis firmly anchored in its Asian roots, and like its host, the towers borrow the best that the West can offer, imbues it with local values and cultures and leaves her distinctively Malaysian. The same is true of the ethos of common law, the vision of the education systems, the precepts of medical practice and the concepts of biomedical ethics; western formulations made uniquely Malaysian. The idea that Western concepts have somehow been imposed upon local culture is as unlikely as the belief that shared ethical concepts, are impossible in an evolving world fast losing her cultural, religious and societal divides [1,2]. The ethical landscape of modern multicultural, multiracial, multi-faith Malaysia is evidence of the latter and may indeed have been what Ladikas envisaged when describing global ethics as ‗the attempt to agree on fundamental conditions for human flourishing and to secure them for all‘ [3]." (pg 140)