Bioethics and the determination of personhood.
In today's technological world, humanity continuously surpasses the limits set by previous achievements. Although evidence of such progress exists in several fields of study, one clearly sees this in the medical and biotechnological fields. Despite the countless opportunities for longer, more productive lives, medicine and science have regressed in their conception of the human person. In an effort to overcome any moral and legal ramifications that research and medical practices entail, physicians and researchers have come to reduce personhood to only a matter of biological qualities and functioning. This essay attempts to show, first of all, the classical Christian understanding of the person, currently held by the Orthodox Church. It then looks at three fields of bioethical discussion; namely, abortion, brain death, and human embryonic cloning, and shows how each issue reduces the human person to his or her biological components. The essay concludes by suggesting a return to an understanding of personhood based on personal and communal levels of relationships.
Department of Forensic Sciences, University of Crete Medical School, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. FrMakarios@hotmail.com
Makarios
M
Griniezakis
Konstantinos
K
Symeonides
Anna
A
Mavroforou
Emmanuel
E
Michalodimitrakis
D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000941:ethics; D033421:Beginning of Human Life; D026688:Bioethical Issues; D001926:Brain Death; D019976:Cloning, Organism / Q000941:ethics; D033003:Eastern Orthodoxy; D033041:Embryo Research / Q000941:ethics; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus; D006801:Humans; D028723:Personhood; D011247:Pregnancy; D013234:Stem Cells; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000941:ethics