Public Lecture

Nonviolence and Bioethics: Jain Approaches to the Ethical Dilemmas of Birth, Life, and Death

Date: March 22, 2021
Location: Zoom

Based on a wide range of textual sources and an international survey conducted with Jain medical professionals in India and diaspora communities of North America, Europe, and Africa, this talk will examine the Jain perspectives on bioethical issues. It will particularly focus on how the central principle of nonviolence has been applied and negotiated in the Jain engagement with the ethical dilemmas of birth, life, and death.

Event Flyer

Ana Bajželj

Ana Bajželj is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Shrimad Rajchandra Endowed Chair in Jain Studies at the University of California, Riverside. Her research focuses on Jain philosophy, particularly metaphysics and ethics. Her first book, The Nature of Change in Jaina Philosophy, was published in 2016 by Ljubljana University Press.

Her forthcoming book, Insistent Life: Principles for Bioethics in The Jain Tradition (UC Press 2021), co-authored with Brianne Donaldson, investigates the relationship between Jainism and bioethics, exploring what foundations Jain doctrines provide for addressing bioethical issues as well as how the tradition informs the attitudes and decisions of contemporary Jain medical professionals.

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