Ethics Research Paper

by Silke Schicktanz 

Title: Why the way we consider the body matters – Reflections on four bioethical perspectives on the human body (2007).

by Silke Schicktanz.
Address: University of Göttingen, Dept. of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, Humboldtallee 36, 37073 Göttingen, Germany

Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 2007, 2:30doi:10.1186/1747-5341-2-30
This article is available from: http://www.peh-med.com/content/2/1/30. (Right-click the link to download and print a PDF file.)

Abstract:
Background: Within the context of applied bioethical reasoning, various conceptions of the human body are focused upon by the author in relation to normative notions of autonomy.

Results: The author begins by descriptively exploring some main positions in bioethics from which the "body" is conceptualized. Such positions conflict: the body is that which is constitutive of the individual's experience and perception, or it is conceived of materially or mechanistically; or as a constructed locus, always historically and culturally transformed. The author goes on to suggest a methodological approach that dialectically considers embodiment from four different perspectives: as bodily self-determination, as respect for the bodily unavailability of the other, as care for bodily individuality; and lastly, as acknowledgement of bodily-constituted communities. These four perspectives encompass autonomy in two of its main interpretations: as the capability of a person to act independent of external forces, and as the moral ideal of pursuing individual wishes by means of role distance, self-limitation and universalization. Various bioethical cases are utilized to show how the four perspectives on the body can complement one another.

Conclusions: The way we consider the body matters. The author's dialectical method allows a premise-critical identification and exploration of bioethical problems concerning the body. The method is potentially applicable to other bioethical problems.

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