[Bioethics in pluralistic societies--what does it all mean?]

The phrase "bioethics in pluralistic society" has recently become a common phrase. At the same time it has become so notoriously ambiguous that it is worth to ask about its various meanings in order to reveal different senses and non-senses hidden beneath it. The terms that compose this phrase have undergone critical analysis with particular emphasis put on the term "bioethics". The need for further development of bioethics as philosophical discipline, and not its various politically determined mutations, is stressed in concluding remarks.