The Important Role of Evolutionary Medicine in Asian Bioethics

Abstract

"Over the last two decades evolutionary medicine has been a growing field within medical science. Currently, courses in evolutionary medicine are being taught in North America and Europe. Recently an institute of evolutionary medicine was inaugurated at The University of Zurich Switzerland. Evolutionary medicine is increasingly being taken seriously in medical faculties which are recognising the importance of evolutionary principles in understanding human health and disease. According to the famous biologist Ernst Mayr (1982), “No biological problem is solved until both the proximate and the evolutionary causation has been elucidated. Furthermore, the study of evolutionary causes is as legitimate a part of biology as is the study of the usually physicochemical proximate causes.”