[BIOETHICS FACED WITH SOCIOCULTURAL DIVERSITY, THE IMPACT OF THE MEANING GIVEN TO AN UNFINISHED CONCEPT]

At a time in which the ethical awareness towards socio-cultural diversity is a necessity, it seems of paramount importance to explore what is meant by bioethics. Without being exhaustive, this paper suggests to scrutinize the key defnitions of bioethics, considering their evolution over time as well as their convergence with anthropology. Starting with its global and its restricted definitions, this article examines certain differences or definitional imprecisions in the light of the concepts used by bioethicists and anthropologists in their conception of bioethics. While this exercise shows the pertinence of the conceptual tools proposed by anthropology to facilitate the cultural diversity's integration into bioethics, it ultimately challenges an anthropological approach that has been unable to mainstream this knowledge into the definition of bioethics.