The American Bioethics & Culture Institute (ABCI) is an international infrastructure for building collaborations among clinicians, scientists, psychologists, jurists, ethicists, and religious, human, and social-studies scholars and artists in all media, as well as the public. Founded in 2011 as part of the UNESCO Bioethics Chair (Haifa), ABCI is currently part of the American Unit of the International Chair in Bioethics in collaboration with the World Medical Association.
Bioethics needs aesthetics to present a human face. Our institute produces materials and creates a climate for the teaching and learning of bioethics in a manner that is biopsychologically informed, memorable, and meaningful even in the midst of real-life stress and uncertainty.
Our directors believe that a resilient moral life needs the support and inspiration for bioethical reflection that art and culture can provide even in the worst of times. Via our national and international network, through webinars, study groups, online forums, individual mentorship and publications, our directors seek to cultivate a cross-culturally meaningful conversation that advances the bioethics of healthcare as the life cycle turns.
Our institute has and will continue to explore these themes through articles on the art of bioethical resilience and the transgenerational (epigenetic) transmission of trauma and moral resilience as well as presentations such a the distinguished Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine 2015 Flexner Lecture and a 2022 grand rounds at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center on art and bioethical resilience.
“Words have meaning only in the stream of life.”
–Wittgenstein, L. (1990, No. 913) Last Writings on the Philosophy of Psychology, Vol. I. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
ABCI, a part of the American Unit of the International Chair in Bioethics, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.