Browsing by Subject "Personhood"
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Item Biomedical technologies and human dignity(2016-03-08) Melo-Martín, Inmaculada deCurrent biomedical advancements are presenting us with difficult moral and policy decisions. Indeed, from questions about the morality of cloning human embryos, to concerns about human genetic modifications, to worries about chimera research, biomedical science and technology is inextricably tied to moral responsibilities and public policy concerns. Scholars and institutions struggle to evaluate these technologies in ways that attend to both the moral difficulties they raise and the promises they offer. Despite criticism that the concept of human dignity is vague, several national and international bodies and a number of scholars have argued that human dignity is a useful criterion to determine the permissibility of particular biomedical technologies. Here, I explore the meanings of this concept, examine the ways in which biomedical technologies can be said to threaten human dignity, and evaluate whether and under which conditions this concept can serve as a meaningful criterion for public policy.Item Dignity in later life (The Daniel W. Foster, M.D., Visiting Lectureship in Medical Ethics)(2023-12-12) Jecker, Nancy S.Some argue dignity is a useless concept that bioethics can do without. Against this view, I show dignity is a central concern for bioethics, particularly for older people. Dignity's importance during later life is part of a broader view I call the life stage relativity of values. It holds that different values emerge as central at different periods of our lives. During early life, caring, trust, and nurturing figure prominently due to vulnerabilities that characterize infancy and childhood. By adulthood, greater physical and emotional independence leads to autonomy and self-reliance taking center stage. During later life, heightened risk for chronic disease and disability makes keeping dignity intact a critical concern. Across the lifespan, the highest value for an individual relates to their life stage circumstances. Ignoring this can lead to life stage bias, especially midlife bias, which occurs when we apply values central during midlife to all life stages.