Disputes in Bioethics
- 224 pages
- 8 hours of reading
Disputes in Bioethics explores critical questions surrounding the beginning and end of life, featuring essays that address the dawn of human life with inquiries such as: Should we create children with three or more parents? Is it preferable never to have been born? Is 'after-birth' abortion morally acceptable? The collection also delves into the dusk of human life, questioning whether 'death with dignity' is a misleading term, if euthanasia should be allowed for children, and whether assisted suicide negatively impacts those who choose not to die. Additionally, it examines the rights of healthcare professionals to conscientiously object to established medical practices and discusses the moral implications of separating conjoined twins, as well as the significance of an individual's species on their moral status. Christopher Kaczor critiques influential bioethical positions while rejecting consequentialism and principalism. Grounded in the Catholic belief that faith and reason are compatible, the book presents Catholic bioethical teachings as rationally defensible for both secular and religious audiences. From a natural law perspective, Kaczor advocates for the inherent dignity of all human beings and their entitlement to protection of basic human goods. This work is beneficial for philosophers in applied ethics, as well as law students and professors.
