Izvorni znanstveni članak
Ontological and functionalistic perception of person: bioethical discussion
Luka Tomašević
; Katolički bogoslovni fakultet, Sveučilište u Splitu
Sažetak
The concept and definition of a person are open to doubt, i.e.
they are uneven in different disciplines and scientific branches,
which is especially pronounced in contemporary bioethics. When
perceiving a person, the representatives and philosophers of
secular bioethics, especially Egelhardt and Singer, ignore an
essential component of personality, promoted and protected by
Christian theology and personalistic anthropology, and that is
man’s spiritual dimension.
In their dominant wish to control and improve man and the
world, the mentioned representatives of secular bioethical thought
attach value and dignity to human life only in case the person is
physically and mentally healthy. They talk about the “levels” of
personality if they establish that human beings in embryonic stage
of life, mentally ill people or people in a coma cannot be endowed
with personality, since it is conditioned only by self-consciousness
and rationality. One becomes a person gradually, growing up in
the course of life, following certain facts. Such acquired personality
can be easily lost, as man can simply fall ill or fall asleep.
Traditional ontological perception of a person is based on
the ontological structure of man himself, so that the value of a
person arises from his/her essence. Therefore, each person is
a self-contained person. The classic definition of a person, preformulated
in modern times, says that person is an individual who
possesses spiritual nature. The part of the definition which says
that person is an individual basically says that person is undivided
in himself, yet separated from everything else. Man is different
because he has his own essence. To the extent that man is a
material being, he differs from other beings through the relation of
form to matter, and to the extent that man is a spiritual being, he
is different on the basis of some other principle which is based on the form, since it is quite clear that man’s soul cannot be simply
replaced by another one.
Christian personalism, especially prominent in the encyclical
Evangelium vitae and the document Dignitas personae, is based on
the line of scholastic Christian thinking and speaks about man’s
unconditional and objective value and dignity arising from his
creatureliness in the image of God and call to man to become like
God. Man is called to life which is donated to him for that purpose
and he realizes it through freedom, responsibility and relationship
with others. In the community man polishes his own personality
which does not depend on age or psycho-physical givenness or
abilities, let alone that it disappears or diminishes in the uterus
or in the sleep.
Nowadays practical cases in bioethics are solved in accordance
with these views. Therefore, the author offers solutions according
to the Catholic personalistic teaching and approach to the person.
Ključne riječi
person; man; philosophy; ontology; bioethics; functionalism; Church
Hrčak ID:
70673
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.7.2011.
Posjeta: 3.922 *