Synthesis philosophica, Vol. 30 No. 1, 2015.
Original scientific paper
The Concept of Life in Modern Medical Ethics and Bioethics
Marcus Knaup
; Fernuniversität in Hagen, Faculty of Cultural and Social Sciences, Institute of Philosophy, Hagen, Germany
Abstract
Human persons are characterised by a bodily structure, and not merely as a cluster of neurons or as ghosts. The prefix ‘bio’ in ‘bioethics’ already points to that which is alive. Bioethics should therefore always keep in mind this direct relationship between life and the living body. The paper discusses two ethical consequences which result from the reduction of the human person from an organismic whole to a bodiless mind-brain being: when certain mind competencies or brain structures are not, not yet, or no longer identifiable, the legal protection and the right to life of such persons have been diminished.
Keywords
bioethics; Hans Jonas; brain death; living organisms; personhood; status of the embryo; corporeality; Leiblichkeit
Hrčak ID:
162942
URI
Publication date:
27.8.2015.
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