Qiu Renzong (邱仁宗, c. 1933) is a Chinese

bioethicist Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biology, med ...

. He is a senior research fellow emeritus at China's Institute of Philosophy, and chair of the Academic Committee at the Centre for Bioethics at

Peking Union Medical College Peking Union Medical College (), founded in 1906, is a selective public medical college based in Dongcheng, Beijing, China. It is a Chinese Ministry of Education Double First Class University Plan university. The school is tied to the Peking Un ...

."Ethics prize goes to Chinese scientist"
''SciDevNet'', 12 January 2010.
"Professor Renzong Qiu receives the 2009 Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science at UNESCO"
UNESCO, 11 December 2009. ''China Daily'' writes that he is regarded as the scholar who 30 years ago introduced bioethics to China. Qiu published a paper in 2002 arguing for the recognition in China of

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

, and introducing the idea of

speciesism Speciesism () is a term used in philosophy regarding the treatment of individuals of different species. The term has several different definitions within the relevant literature. A common element of most definitions is that speciesism involves t ...

. He argued in favour of a

gradualist Gradualism, from the Latin ''gradus'' ("step"), is a hypothesis, a theory or a tenet assuming that change comes about gradually or that variation is gradual in nature and happens over time as opposed to in large steps. Uniformitarianism, incrementa ...

approach to the recognition of rights, rejecting the

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

approach as unrealistic. His paper was criticized by Zhao Nanyuan, a professor at

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...

, who wrote that animal rights arguments are foreign ideas and are "anti-humanity." Qiu was awarded the 2009

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Avicenna Prize The Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science is awarded every two years by UNESCO and rewards individuals and groups in the field of ethics in science. The aim of the award is to promote ethical reflection on issues raised by advances in science an ...

for Ethics in Science and he shared the Hastings Center's Henry Knowles Beecher Award with Solomon R. Benatar in 2011.

Selected works

*''Bioethics: Asian Perspectives: A Quest for Moral Diversity''. Springer, 2004.

Notes

Living people Animal rights scholars Academic staff of Peking Union Medical College Bioethicists 20th-century Chinese philosophers 21st-century Chinese philosophers People's Republic of China philosophers Year of birth missing (living people) Recipients of Avicenna Prize {{animal-rights-stub

Selected works

See also

Notes