{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T12:15:21Z","timestamp":1790079321949,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"Wiley","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790035200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/termsAndConditions#vor"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790035200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Developing World Bioethics"],"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Today, the call to decolonize bioethics is prominent, yet its meaning and practical implications remain contested. In this article, I distinguish between two models of decolonization\u2014strong and soft\u2014and offer a constructive path forward. Strong decolonization seeks to reject Western\u2010rooted bioethical principles in favor of entirely local paradigms. Soft decolonization embraces a dialogical stance, critically engaging with universal principles rather than disregarding them. While this bridges universalism and relativism, it lacks a concrete normative framework, often resulting in paralysis. I fill this gap by proposing contextual universality as a necessary framework for soft decolonization. Contextual universality is ethical reasoning that sustains universality by grounding it in lived experiences and ethical traditions. By advancing this, this article articulates a principled ethical pluralism that avoids relativism and imperialism, reconstructing decolonization not as a rejection of universality but as a shared dialogical process of remaking it.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/dewb.70057","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T11:51:27Z","timestamp":1790077887000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Decolonizing Bioethics: A Normative Proposal for Contextual Universality"],"prefix":"10.1111","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3623-5947","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joshua Cedric Aquino","family":"Gundayao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Center for Culture, Arts, and Humanities University of Santo Tomas Manila Philippines"},{"name":"Department of Philosophy University of Santo Tomas Manila Philippines"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]]},"reference":[{"issue":"3","key":"e_1_2_11_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"227","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-8519.00150","article-title":"Is There an Asian Bioethics?","volume":"13","author":"Castro L. D.","year":"1999","journal-title":"Bioethics"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_3_1","first-page":"1","article-title":"Universalism and Particularism Debate in \u2018Asian Bioethics\u2019","volume":"1","author":"Hongladarom S.","year":"2008","journal-title":"Asian Bioethics Review"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_2_11_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9","DOI":"10.5334\/aogh.3961","article-title":"Decolonizing Global Health Research: Perspectives From US and International Global Health Trainees","volume":"89","author":"DeCamp M.","year":"2023","journal-title":"Annals of Global Health"},{"issue":"2","key":"e_1_2_11_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"27","DOI":"10.1162\/152651603766436171","article-title":"\u2018Decolonizing\u2019 the Minds of Bioethicists: Reflections on Psychosocial Challenges","volume":"3","author":"Garcia S. A.","year":"2003","journal-title":"American Journal of Bioethics"},{"issue":"4","key":"e_1_2_11_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"68","DOI":"10.20541\/beonline.2016.0009","article-title":"Decolonizing Bioethics in African","volume":"3","author":"Fayemi K.","year":"2016","journal-title":"BEOnline Journal of the Center for Bioethics and Research"},{"issue":"8","key":"e_1_2_11_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1155","DOI":"10.1080\/17441692.2020.1864754","article-title":"Decolonising Global Health in the Time of COVID\u201019","volume":"16","author":"Fofana M. O.","year":"2021","journal-title":"Global Public Health"},{"issue":"4","key":"e_1_2_11_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101","DOI":"10.17157\/mat.6.4.761","article-title":"On the Coloniality of Global Public Health","volume":"6","author":"Richardson E. T.","year":"2019","journal-title":"Medicine Anthropology Theory"},{"issue":"9","key":"e_1_2_11_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjgh-2023-013696","article-title":"Decolonising Global Health in the Global South by the Global South: Turning the Lens Inward","volume":"8","author":"Sharma D.","year":"2023","journal-title":"BMJ Global Health"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"239","DOI":"10.18772\/22019083351.17","volume-title":"Decolonisation in Universities: The Politics of Knowledge","author":"Mbembe A.","year":"2019"},{"issue":"7","key":"e_1_2_11_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"454","DOI":"10.1111\/bioe.12465","article-title":"Community Engagement in Global Health Research That Advances Health Equity","volume":"32","author":"Pratt B.","year":"2018","journal-title":"Bioethics"},{"issue":"3","key":"e_1_2_11_12_1","first-page":"533","article-title":"Coloniality of Power and Eurocentrism in Latin America","volume":"1","author":"Quijano A. E.","year":"2000","journal-title":"Nepantla: Views From South"},{"issue":"2","key":"e_1_2_11_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"449","DOI":"10.1080\/09502380601162647","article-title":"Delinking: The Rhetoric of Modernity, the Logic of Coloniality and the Grammar of De\u2010Coloniality","volume":"21","author":"Mignolo W. D.","year":"2007","journal-title":"Cultural Studies"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_2_11_14_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"98","DOI":"10.1186\/s12910-018-0338-6","article-title":"African Bioethics: Methodological Doubts and Insights","volume":"19","author":"Barugahare J.","year":"2018","journal-title":"BMC Medical Ethics"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_15_1","first-page":"459","volume-title":"Principles of Biomedical Ethics","author":"Beauchamp T. L.","year":"2013"},{"issue":"3","key":"e_1_2_11_16_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"309","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-8519.00070","article-title":"Self\u2010Determination vs. Family\u2010Determination: Two Incommensurable Principles of Autonomy","volume":"11","author":"Fan R.","year":"1997","journal-title":"Bioethics"},{"issue":"7","key":"e_1_2_11_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjgh-2021-006371","article-title":"Decolonising Global Health: Beyond \u2018Reformative\u2019 Roadmaps and Towards Decolonial Thought","volume":"6","author":"Chaudhuri M. M.","year":"2021","journal-title":"BMJ Global Health"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_18_1","first-page":"10","article-title":"Decolonial Health Literature Can Increase Our Thinking About Ethics Dumping","volume":"16","author":"Ewuoso C.","year":"2023","journal-title":"Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_2_11_19_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.1525\/maq.1992.6.1.02a00040","article-title":"Anthropology and Bioethics","volume":"6","author":"Marshall P. A.","year":"1992","journal-title":"Medical Anthropology Quarterly"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_2_11_20_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"13","DOI":"10.1186\/s12939-025-02380-y","article-title":"Solidarity and Its Decoloniality in Global Health Ethics","volume":"24","author":"Fayemi A. K.","year":"2025","journal-title":"International Journal for Equity in Health"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_21_1","first-page":"255","volume-title":"The Wretched of the Earth","author":"Fanon F.","year":"1967"},{"issue":"10263","key":"e_1_2_11_22_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1627","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)32417-X","article-title":"Will Global Health Survive Its Decolonisation?","volume":"396","author":"Abimbola S.","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"issue":"3","key":"e_1_2_11_23_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"191","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-8519.00146","article-title":"Towards a New \u2018Global Bioethics\u2019","volume":"13","author":"Sakamoto H.","year":"1999","journal-title":"Bioethics"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_24_1","unstructured":"S.Hall 1990Cultural Identity and Diaspora in Identity: Community Culture Difference eds. J. Rutherford (London: Lawrence & Wishart 222\u2013237)."},{"key":"e_1_2_11_25_1","first-page":"408","volume-title":"Routledge Classics","author":"Bhabha H. K.","year":"2004"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_26_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"742","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1527-2001.2010.01137.x","article-title":"Toward a Decolonial Feminism","volume":"25","author":"Lugones M.","year":"2010","journal-title":"Hypatia"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_2_11_27_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"107","DOI":"10.1111\/1468-2346.00298","article-title":"Global Health Ethics: The Rationale for Mutual Caring","volume":"79","author":"Benatar S. R.","year":"2003","journal-title":"International Affairs"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_28_1","unstructured":"P.Freire\u201cPedagogy of the Oppressed.\u201d 30th Anniversary ed. 2000 (Continuum). 183."},{"issue":"3","key":"e_1_2_11_29_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"305","DOI":"10.1080\/03605310590960193","article-title":"From the Local to the Global: Bioethics and the Concept of Culture","volume":"30","author":"Turner L.","year":"2005","journal-title":"Journal of Medicine and Philosophy"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_30_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"64","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tcmj.2012.05.004","article-title":"Western or Eastern Principles in Globalized Bioethics? An Asian Perspective View","volume":"25","author":"Tai M. C. T.","year":"2013","journal-title":"Tzu Chi Medical Journal"},{"issue":"2","key":"e_1_2_11_31_1","first-page":"221","article-title":"World\u2010System and \u2018Transmodernity\u2019","volume":"3","author":"Dussel E.","year":"2002","journal-title":"Nepantla: Views From South"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_32_1","first-page":"551","volume-title":"Truth and Method. A Continuum Book","author":"Gadamer H.\u2010G.","year":"1975"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_33_1","volume-title":"Globalizing the Culture Wars: U.S. Conservatives, African Churches & Homophobia","author":"Kaoma K.","year":"2009"}],"container-title":["Developing World Bioethics"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1111\/dewb.70057","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1111\/dewb.70057","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1111\/dewb.70057","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T11:51:32Z","timestamp":1790077892000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/dewb.70057"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]]},"references-count":32,"alternative-id":["10.1111\/dewb.70057"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/dewb.70057","archive":["Portico"],"relation":{},"ISSN":["1471-8731","1471-8847"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1471-8731","type":"print"},{"value":"1471-8847","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2025-11-12","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2026-08-24","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2026-09-22","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}],"article-number":"dewb.70057"}}