Complementing Western Bioethics: Nishida Kitarō’s Relational Ontology and the Future of Brain Organoid Research

This paper explores the complementarity of Nishida Kitarō's relational ontology with Western bioethics in addressing novel moral dilemmas arising from advanced neural technologies, including brain organoids, human-animal chimeras, and biocomputational systems. Nishida's philosophy transcends the subject-object dichotomy by emphasizing the interconnectedness and co-creative nature of all beings, thereby reframing traditional questions of moral status, personhood, and consent. We examine recent scientific advances and policy debates to demonstrate that Nishida's approach not only enriches ethical understanding but also provides more nuanced guidance that can account for both the technological dynamism and cultural diversity of contemporary research. We argue that this relational, context-dependent ethics, grounded in humility and continuous reflection, fosters an inclusive attitude toward emerging forms of life. Nishida's framework coexists harmoniously with Western philosophy and deepens our grasp of the relational networks that interconnect humans, animals, and even machine- or organoid-based intelligence. We propose an agile, forward-looking model of ethics to respond to the transformative developments of neural innovation.