Synthesis philosophica, Vol. 39 No. 2, 2024.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.21464/sp39210
On the Duty to Heal and Its Limits. Integrative Bioethics between Essentialism and Transhumanism
Regine Kather
; Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Philosophisches Seminar, Werthmannplatz, KG I, DE–79098 Freiburg i. Br.
Sažetak
The article deals with the range of the duty to restore the health of humans as Hippocrates first claimed, in contrast to the possibility to enhance the biological constitution by means of modern technology, especially by genetic engineering, neuroenhancement and implants. Given the background of the dynamics of modern technology an Integrative Bioethics cannot only be based on the Hippocratic oath and the four principles of Beauchamp and Childress. Without doubt they allow a first orientation, yet they have to be completed by the synthesis of the main focus of the five dominant forms of ethics: by deontological ethics, utilitarianism, the ethics of responsibility, as well as that of care, and finally also virtue ethics. Because humans as living beings are open systems, ethics has to include their relations to the world in their whole complexity, and this implies relations to nature as well as to other persons. Therefore, ethics has to discuss conflicts between values in concrete situations and to prioritize them, it has to reflect on the consequences of decisions, on the range of responsibility, and how attitudes can be learnt by practice. But though the application of modern technology will certainly allow a further prolongation of the span of life and the span of health, death will remain inevitable; therefore, it is one of the main tasks of an Integrative Bioethics to deal with this final phase of life, too. Especially in this context the question arises how the value of life is related to that of consciousness: Is life as a mere physiological process without any form of consciousness still worth living?
Ključne riječi
integrative bioethics; healing; medical ethics; technology; nature; human being; life; consciousness; essentialism; transhumanism
Hrčak ID:
342341
URI
Datum izdavanja:
29.12.2024.
Posjeta: 583 *