On the Ultimate That Is the First: Thinking Beyond (Bio)ethics
The article deals with «presuppositions» in the field of bioethics. It does so witha concern for questions of meaning, which bioethics tends to bracket, rather than address,on account of a tendency to reduce normative problems to the level of proceduralrightness. The question of the good, that is, o...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
2019
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| In: |
Gregorianum
Year: 2019, Volume: 100, Issue: 3, Pages: 621-647 |
| Further subjects: | B
artificial reproductivetechnologies
B ethics of death and dying B Bioethics B Metaphysics B medicine and meaning |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The article deals with «presuppositions» in the field of bioethics. It does so witha concern for questions of meaning, which bioethics tends to bracket, rather than address,on account of a tendency to reduce normative problems to the level of proceduralrightness. The question of the good, that is, of what grounds our answers, remainsrecessive. This is, ultimately, a metaphysical lacuna, for whether we know it or not,we always rely upon an implicit understanding of the ground of things. The author’sexamples in the article, relating to bioethical debates at the end and the beginning oflife, respectively, show that the tendency is to project upon reality a suspicion of neutrality,when not lack of value. We tend to emphasize a dimension of active striving(conatus), rather than receptive wonder (passio), with respect to the good. In so doing,we grow increasingly inattentive to the sheer givenness of being, now reduced toneutral thereness available for endless manipulation. Relying especially on the workof Leuven philosopher William Desmond, the article calls for a different attunementto the value of things as «given», rather than «produced», and a different love for thegift of being that is worthy of our trust. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Gregorianum
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