TOddler: Building Ethical Bridges in Times of Polarization

The TOddler project, developed by an international network of scholars, presented at UNAM the progress made in developing an innovative methodology to foster dialogue and convergence among different bioethical perspectives. The presentation received third place among more than 100 research papers presented at the conference.

During the IV International Congress on Ethics and Bioethics: Interdisciplinarity for Sustainability, organized by the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Dr. María Victoria Fernández Molina, Alberto García Gómez, and Alejandro Sánchez Guerrero presented the paper “TOddler: Building Ethical Bridges in Times of Polarization.”

The presentation introduced the foundations, methodology, and main advances of an academic initiative that seeks to address one of the greatest challenges facing contemporary societies: How can we build ethical agreements when cultural, philosophical, and normative differences seem irreconcilable?

The significance of this proposal was recognized with third place among more than 100 research papers presented during the conference, highlighting the importance of developing new tools for bioethical deliberation in contexts of diversity and conflict.

A Bioethics of Encounter in the Face of Polarization

TOddler, whose name refers to Transformative Open Dialogue on Dignity, Ecology, and Rights, emerged from the need to restore the capacity for dialogue in response to the ethical challenges of an increasingly polarized world.

The project is being developed through international and interdisciplinary collaboration involving CADEBI at Universidad Anáhuac México, the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights, the Red Internacional de Universidades (RIU), and scholars from various institutions.

Its purpose is to develop a global bioethics of encounter capable of creating spaces for convergence among different ethical traditions, while acknowledging their differences and preserving their underlying foundations.

To achieve this, the project brings together three perspectives: international biolaw, personalist bioethics, and global bioethics, with the aim of examining shared challenges through their respective values, principles, and approaches to resolving ethical dilemmas.

The proposal is grounded in five fundamental pillars: open reason, human dignity, the common good, integral ecology, and justice and peace. These principles guide an approach to ethical deliberation that recognizes the interdependence of individuals, societies, and the environment.

From this perspective, TOddler does not seek to reduce different positions to a lowest common denominator, but rather to transform differences into opportunities for encounter, reflection, and the development of shared responses.

A Methodology for Transforming Disagreement into Dialogue

One of TOddler's main contributions is the development of an operational methodology that makes it possible to examine the same bioethical dilemma from three different perspectives and systematically compare their conclusions.

The analysis takes place at three levels: the axiological level, which examines the values involved; the normative level, which identifies ethical principles and criteria; and the methodological-practical level, which compares the arguments, procedures, and proposed solutions.

The methodology consists of five stages: systematizing the foundations of each perspective, formulating a specific dilemma, analyzing it through the three approaches, comparing the results, and identifying potential areas of convergence, tensions, and complementarities.

This process makes it possible to move beyond abstract theoretical disagreements toward the examination of concrete situations, recognizing both areas of agreement and differences that require deeper reflection.

During the presentation, a preliminary finding was highlighted: the differences among the three perspectives do not appear to be as extensive as might initially be assumed. Although this does not mean that consensus can always be reached, it opens opportunities to identify common foundations and develop ethically justified proposals.

Advances Strengthening Research and International Collaboration

The presentation highlighted four major advances in the project's development.

1. First, a conceptual framework has been developed to address polarization, otherness, and global bioethics, incorporating integral ecology and open reason as cross-cutting foundations.
2. Second, a comparative matrix has been designed to systematically examine the values, principles, and approaches to resolving ethical dilemmas within international biolaw, personalist bioethics, and global bioethics.
3. Third, the completion of six bioethical dilemmas structured as pilot cases was reported. These cases address obstetric violence, genetic editing, artificial intelligence in healthcare, the climate crisis, the equitable distribution of resources, and forced migration. These exercises represent an initial application of the methodology and help identify areas for further improvement.
4. Finally, the project has consolidated an international and interdisciplinary academic network that, in its initial stage, has brought together more than 17 researchers from over six institutions, strengthening collaboration with the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights and the RIU.

These advances provide an important foundation for the continued development and refinement of the proposal. As emphasized during the presentation, TOddler is not yet a finalized model, but rather an evolving methodology that is enriched through practical application, research, and academic exchange.

Thinking Together, Making Better Decisions, and Building Peace

Beyond its conceptual and methodological contributions, TOddler aspires to generate academic, educational, and social impact.

Its upcoming objectives include producing scientific publications and an international methodological guide, as well as developing ethics laboratories, interuniversity workshops, ethical dilemma simulations, and educational materials that strengthen ethical deliberation skills.

The project also seeks to contribute to discussions on public policies and regulatory frameworks, promote international cooperation networks, and provide tools for responsible decision-making in response to challenges arising in science, healthcare, technology, and the environment.

The proposal is grounded in a fundamental conviction: building convergence does not mean thinking alike, but rather learning to engage in dialogue across differences in order to identify, whenever possible, shared foundations and courses of action.

Guided by the principle “Thinking Together, Making Better Decisions, and Building Peace,” TOddler is presented as an initiative open to collaboration with researchers, universities, bioethics centers, and institutions interested in enriching and testing its methodology.

Through its participation in this conference and the recognition received, CADEBI reaffirms its commitment to interdisciplinary research, international academic cooperation, and the strategic development of bioethics, promoting initiatives that contribute to a more just, humane society that is open to dialogue.

Learn more about the TOddler project