The last volume of Bioethics Library — issues in bioethics released since 2019 — was published in 2022. The ten-volume edition was issued by the known Russian Veche Publishing House specializing in historical literature. Bioethics Library edited by Academician A. G. Chuchalin, an outstanding Russian pulmonologist, included various publications related to bioethical issues.

This review with a summary of the examined series only is intended to make the outstanding edition more popular, draw attention of those readers who are interested in development of Russian bioethics, and teachers of bioethics from Russian medical universities, in particular.

Bioethics Library was created with the support of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO and Russian Academy of Science. Academician A. G. Chuchalin (Vice-President of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee and Chairman of the Russian National Bioethics Committee) and sponsors involved by him took an active part in the edition publication. The series is mainly intended for medical students, teachers and doctors [1]. The purpose of the series is to increase the quality of medical and humanitarian education in the field ethics by making the readers familiar with the unique experience and publications of Russian and foreign doctors, scientists and writers [1].

It is noteworthy that no volume of the ten-volume edition went on sale; the series is not sold at book stores. There is an online version of the third volume, but other books of the series are not published online [2]. The many-volume set arrived to the libraries of the Russian Universities. In Moscow, it can be found, for instance, in the Russian State Library (6 volumes out of 10 are presented in the catalog of the Scientific Library of the Moscow State University, 7 volumes out of 10 are kept in the Central Scientific Medical Library). In Saint-Petersburg, the collection is available in the Russian National Library. The many-volume set is also available in some other libraries of Russia. It is not easy to find it in e-catalogs: searching through bases of University libraries is frequently limited for public users. According to the publishers, medical universities of Belarus and Kazakhstan will be among the first to get the ten-volume Bioethics Library edition [3].

Thus, a series of Bioethics Library is a rarity. At the time of publication of the article, Veche publishing house is busy with preparing an electronic ten-volume edition. It is remarkable that Academician A. G. Chuchalin, editor-in-chief, has prepared an adapted version of UNESCO bioethics program for Russian medical universities (published in the seventh volume of the series). According to Academician A. G. Chuchalin, bioethics program should be continuous (from year 1^st to year 6^th) and include post-graduation education, as ‘a physician’s education, including ethical one, is ended with the physician’s death’ [2]. The ten-volume Bioethics Library edition should serve as a training aid for teaching biomedical ethics at higher medical institutions. As the series is intended for students, every volume contains self-assessment questions (except for Volume 6 devoted to Kant without the questions).

Chronological frames of the series are rather wide. The majority of the texts relates to the XIX century. However, separate volumes are devoted to Avicenna and Kant. Owing to that, the Bioethics Library also includes works of the Middle Ages, classical texts of German idealism, and works of modern Sweden scientists Johansson I and Lynøe N. Another volume is devoted to various official documents accepted on the issues of bioethical regulation. Nevertheless, the major part of the anthology — 6 volumes — is devoted to works of Russian authors of the XIX, XX and XXI centuries. This gives the edition special importance in comprehending history and peculiarities of Russian bioethics.

The Bioethics Library collects the works of doctors and philosophers speculating about the medical and research ethics and rules of experimenting with a human being and animals. Global challenges of the XXI century associated with development of new genetic and reproductive technologies and AI technologies are addressed as well. Works of such doctors as Botkin ES, Uglov FG, Veresayev VV, Voyno-Yasenetsky (St. Luka Krymsky), et al. are published in the edition.

STRUCTURE OF THE BIOETHICS LIBRARY

The ten-volume edition has three parts.

The first part is general. It consists of two volumes. The first volume contains numerous Russian and international legal documents related to bioethics, and UNESCO Guideline on Communication with Bioethical Committees [4]. The second volume within the first part includes a collection entitled Russian Physicians to Physicians [5].

The second part is devoted to philosophical foundations of bioethics. It consists of three volumes such as Kant’s Lectures on Ethics, Medicine and Philosophy: Introduction to the XXI century by Johansson I. and Lynøe N., and works by Berdyayev N. A. (On the Destination of a Human Being, Self-Exploration) [6–8].

The third part is special. It is aimed at ethical preparation to communication with patients. It consists of 5 volumes such as Moral Foundations of Medicine by Avicenna (Ibn Sina), Physician Yevgeny, Passion Bearer, Doctor Botkin ES, A Physician’s Notes by Veresayev VV, I Liked the Suffering by Voyno-Yasenetsky VF and The Heart of the Surgeon by Uglov FG [9–13].

The order, in which the volumes were issued and numbered, is not associated with the abovementioned division of the collection into three parts. So, it is appropriate to mention the volumes not in numerical order, but in accordance with the thematic division introduced by A. G. Chuchalin [2].

THE FIRST PART OF THE SERIES. COLLECTIONS

The first part of the series is entitled ‘General’ by the editor-in-chief. It includes volumes 3 and 7. Both volumes are collections (as every other volume is devoted to one personality only).

Volume 3, Bioethics and Global Challenges. Documents and Speculations [4]. Sayamov YuN, Cand. Sc. History, Head of the UNESCO Department for Global Issues of the Faculty of Global Processes of Lomonosov Moscow State University, is the author of this volume, which is the most extensive of all ten. The most part of the book is occupied by various documents devoted to bioethical regulation. It is for the first time when all basic documentation related to bioethics is united within the same edition in Russian literature. Thus, the edition included 25 most important documents devoted to bioethics and accepted by UNESCO, WTO, Council of Europe and other international companies. Russian documents such as The Oath of the Soviet Doctor, The Oath of the Russian Doctor, etc. were published in addition to international documentation. Notably, the collection included not only official international and national documents, but also some documents which are considered by the authors to be essential for Russian bioethics.

It is included into the Ethical Physician’s Code of the Republic of Tatarstan, Code of Ethics and Official Conduct for Employees of Saint-Petersburg Municipal Outpatient Clinic No. 98 and other remarkable documents regulating the activity of physicians and medical institutions.

A detailed guideline to communication with bioethical committees in five parts developed by UNESCO was published in the concluding provisions of volume 3. The first three parts are issued in Russian. They describe the mechanism of creating bioethics committees, the manner of their functioning, and procedures of teaching the committee participants. Parts 4 and 5 hereof are in English; they are devoted to the interaction of bioethics committees with the country and society.

Meanwhile, volume 3 is not compiled of various documents. The chapters written by Sayamov YuN are published as an integral collection. Volume 3 also includes the article by Lopukhin YuM entitled Bioethics in Russia that has been published in the Annals of the RAS [14]. Detailed speculation about development of bioethics in Russia, activity of Russian bioethics committees and teaching bioethics at Russian Universities is provided in the book.

Volume 7, Russian Physicians to Physicians, embraces numerous works of outstanding Russian doctors of the XIX, XX and XXI centuries [5]. The works by A. G. Chuchalin are published in the first part of the volume. They include Conversation with a Doctor with a list of various questions a patient is asked by his/her doctor. The bioethics and human rights author training course (adapted for Russian medical universities, UNESCO program type) is published as well. The second part of the collection includes the works by outstanding physicians, philosophers, writers, priests, lawyers (Mudrov MYa, Pirogov NI, Pavlov IP, Petrov NI, Blokhin NN, Botkin ES, Koni AF, Ilyin IA, Bilibin AF, Uglov FG, Blokhin NN and Metropolitan Antony Surozhsky.

Full version of the book can be found on the site of the Far-Eastern State Medical University [15].

THE SECOND PART OF THE SERIES. PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF BIOETHICS.

The second part of the many-volume set has 3 volumes.

Volume 6 includes Kant’s Lectures on Ethics [6]. The edition begins with a foreword Ethics of Goodwill written by Academician Huseynov AA. Kant’s Lectures on Ethics are published in Russian. They are translated by Sudakov AK and Krylova VV (with commentary by Sudakov AK). The edition also embraces such works as the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (remarks are provided by Skripnik AP) and the Critique of Practical Reason by Kant. Volume 6 has the same content and structure as Kant’s Lectures on Ethics, which was published by the Republic publishing house in 2000 and 2005 [16, 17].

Volume 1, Medicine and Philosophy: Introduction to the XXI century, is a translation of Medicine & Philosophy. A Twenty-First Century Introduction written by Johansson I. and Lynøe N. [7, 18]. The book is available in Russian for the first time. According to the authors, the edition describes the issues which are common to medicine, medical ethics, medical information and philosophy. It begins with the foreword of A. G. Chuchalin to translation into Russian. The foreword presents a work published by Swedish scientists and contains a summary of the chapters. A. G. Chuchalin says that Medicine and Philosophy is one of the best teaching aids about the history of philosophical trends in science and medicine, modern interpretation of the issues of medical ethics and bioethics, taxonomy and partonomy. Meanwhile, the book can sometimes be used as a guideline for teachers as it contains the following chapters: ‘What is a science fact?’, ‘What is a scientific argument?’, ‘Phenomena of placebo and nocebo’, ‘Pluralism and medical sciences’, etc.

Volume 10, On the Destination of a Human Being. Self-exploration, includes the works by Berdyayev NA [8]. It contains the following publications: On the Destination of a Human Being. The Experience of Paradoxical Ethics (1931) and Self-Exploration (1940). The book is accompanied with a foreword entitled as Three Ethics and Three Freedoms of N. Berdyayev. Its authors (A. G. Chuchalin and E. V. Bobkov) draw attention to Mr. Berdyayev’s original ethics, where ethics is a doctrine of man. It focuses on Mr. Berdyayev’s philosophical autobiography, who emphasized the significance of human freedom.

According to the authors, the topics covered by Mr. Berdyayev are similar to the topics of bioethics and human rights course. Its program was published in volume 3 of the ten-volume edition [2, 4]. In particular, Mr. Berdyayev speculates what ethics is; he also discusses human dignity, human rights, and human personality autonomy.

THIRD PART OF THE SERIES. EXPERIENCE OF PHYSICIANS

The third part of the series devoted to preparation of a physician to communication with patients includes 5 volumes.

Volume 9. Avicenna. Moral Foundations of Medicine is prepared by the UNESCO bioethics department at the Kazan State Medical University [9]. Heritage by Ibn Sina is presented in the book within the context of the Middle Ages. The volume begins with the introduction by Prof. A. S. Sozinov, Rector of the University, and includes a number of articles such as Culture, Medical Science and Practice of the Arabian East in the Middle Ages (Gurylyova ME, Mukhamedova ZM), Ibn Sinna’s Life Path (Ternovsky VN), Arabian and Muslim Philosophy of the Middle Ages (Nezhmetdinov FT), Avicenna’s Ethical Principles (Nezhmetdinova FT, Abrosimova MYu, Mukhamedova ZM), Avicenna’s The Canon of Medicine: The Bridge between the Ancient and Modern Medical Science (Mamedov MN). It is noteworthy that almost all articles of this collection (except for the last one) have self-evaluation questions. Avicenna’s texts devoted to medical and ethical issues are published in the Primary Literature section and subsequent chapters. The book concludes with a brief glossary of used terms and notions.

Volume 2, Physician Yevgeny, Passion Bearer, Doctor Botkin ES, is devoted to Yevgeny S. Botkin, a son of famous physician Sergey P. Botkin [10].

Botkin ES was a court physician for Tsar Nikolas II. He was murdered in Yekaterinburg in 1918 together with the members of the Tsar’s family. In the introduction, A. G. Chuchalin mentions three reasons why Dr. Botkin’s heritage is important for modern medicine. First, he was loyal to the principle of the Russian medical school stating that it is the duty of a doctor to provide medical assistance to a sick person (irrespective of the patient’s status). Second, the issue of doctor-patient communication holds an honorable place in his heritage. Love for the sick person is mainly displayed through the dialogue. It makes treatment successful. Third, Botkin ES’s behavior can serve as an example in the issues of medical ethics as well: he has never created conflicts.

The book begins with the introduction by Bobkov EV entitled The Happiest Preserve of the Russian Citizen in Really Difficult Times (Dr. Botkin’s Virtue Ethics). Of particular interest are Dr. Botkin’s letters and lectures published for the first time. His speeches such as Patients at a Hospital and What does It Mean to Spoil Patients? were included into the edition. The letters to his wife written in 1904–1905 (Dr. Botkin served as a military doctor during the Russo-Japanese war) and letters to children are published as well. The edition also includes a number of biographic materials and articles devoted to Botkin ES, numerous pictures and ends with a list of test questions and answers to them.

Volume 8 includes A Physician’s Notes by Veresayev VV [11]. The edition consists of the book written by a famous Russian physician (A Physician’s Notes), his articles, fragments from the Live Life book (the first part is entitled About Dostoevsky and Lev Tolstoy), and his Literary Memoirs. The book begins with a foreword by Belevsky AS, Dr. Med. Habil. According to him, the issue of medical error, medical practice and attitude of a physician to material remuneration are considered essential by Dr. Veresayev. The edition ends with a list of issues for discussion offered to the reader.

Volume 4, I liked the Suffering, includes the works by an outstanding surgeon, Dr. Med. Habil., Archbishop of Crimea Luka Krymsky (Voyno-Yasenetsky VF). He was one of the most renowned doctors and priests of the XX century [12]. The book includes three main publications by Archbishop Luka such as I liked the Suffering, About the Spirit, Soul and Body and Science and Religion. The book begins with a foreword entitled Archbishop Luka and includes the author’s biography, and a list of self-evaluation questions.

Volume 5, The Heart of the Surgeon, represents a famous book of Fyodor G. Uglov, a surgeon, social activist and writer (1904–2008) [13]. The book is accompanied with a foreword by Bagnenko SF and Kutykova IV entitled as Philosophical and Bioethical Aspects of Dr. Uglov’s Spiritual Heritage. The authors mention that the book is about medical ethics (its formation, development, basic values, rules and norms), basic principles and rules of biomedical ethics, models of doctor-patient relations, ecological problems and bioethics ratio. The edition starts with the following foreword: ‘The book describes own experience. <…> It is neither special research, not memoirs. It is rather a story about hard and noble work of a surgeon, which is so vital to the society’. Recollections of Dr. Uglov’s colleagues are included into the book.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE SERIES

All texts included into the Bioethics Library editions have something in common: they make readers familiar with the history of building and development of bioethics as an anthropologic project. The task of bioethics is not just to justify the existing practices or designate medical, healthcare or scientific research risks. Bioethics is based on the value of human life and integrity, it protects a human being and society, and due to this, possesses regulatory functions.

Thus, a philosophical block of texts by I. Kant and N. A. Berdyayev, which, at first glance, is not directly referred to the ethics of medicine and biotechnologies, creates a powerful ontological and axiological foundation to discuss the issues associated with the ethics of a physician’s duty, essence of a human life, ideas of the human nature and nature of the disease. It is not accidental that the books by I. Johansson and N. Lynøe, representatives of modern western bioethics, are included into the series as their works represent an example of profound methodological sociohumanistic analysis of modern science and medicine.

In particular, it justifies the necessity of bioethical regulation of modern practices. The approach offered by the Swedish researchers have a pronounced value orientation. When assessing ethical issues, the authors stick to relativism, which is frequently widely spread in the western bioethical discourse.

The books of the series contain numerous works written by doctors, outstanding Russian specialists, who describe their long-term professional experience. It makes the reader think that the treatment process is very sensitive, whereas a professional physician has a clear moral position.

The Library of Bioethics creates a single set of basic works of Russian authors, which are essential as a source of comprehension of value foundations of practical medicine. The authors’ works set the direction for ethical assessment, social and humanistic expertise and ethical and legal regulation of biotechnological projects in Russia. They can also be used in assessment of the foreign bioethical concepts from the point of view of historical and cultural foundations which are traditional for Russia.

Medical students study bioethics on a compulsory basis. The Bioethics Library will certainly be useful both for students and teachers of bioethics. The bioethics program published in volume 7 will facilitate compilation of own programs by teachers. Self-evaluation questions at the end of every volume are good for academic work. Works of outstanding Russian physicians will pay attention of students to the Russian context, and theoretical notions of bioethics will be demonstrated in practical medical experience.

New medical and other technologies interfering into the human nature require continuous ethical recognition, creation of new texts, including philosophical, regulatory and legislative ones. The authors of the Bioethics Library series offer texts for subsequent working in this direction. It is assumed that studying and popularization of the Bioethics Library and its meaningful analysis are particularly relevant in the context of national bioethics development.