Abstract
During the last decades the moral status of the human embryo has been compromised in numerous ways. A survey of these reveals the consistent influence of the ideology of the freedom of the human person. Screening the criteria for assigning moral status (if at all) to the human embryo, 'personhood’ is the main consideration. In this article the relevance of this criterion is examined from a Christian perspective on man and his ethical life. The conclusion is that the old Scholastic dualism of body and soul has been traded in for a dichotomy of person and body. Personhood is then defined in purely humanistic terms as qualified by rationality, self-conscious decisions, et cetera. A n integral view of man becomes impossible and man’s bodily existence is devalued. Ethically the results are devastating. The paradigm for treating the ethical issues in this regard should be far more comprehensive and extensive, as only the Christian world view can guarantee.
Highlights
During the last decades the moral status o f the human embryo has been compromised in numerous ways
In this article the relevance o f this criterion is examined from a Christian perspective on man and his ethical life
The conclusion is that the old Scholastic dualism o f body and soul has been traded in fo r a dichotomy o f person and body
Summary
Die probleem van die bedreigde morele status van die menslike embrio is bestem om aktueel te bly, Dit is ’n tema wat verskeie probleemgebiede van die mediese etiek raak, en gaan veral oor sekere vorme van infertiliteitsbehandeling, aborsie, navorsing op embrio’s en die gebruik van fetale weefsel vir terapeutiese doeleindes. Die vreugde wat mediese navorsing gebring het deur moderne fertiliteitsbehandeling, is een van die mooiste hoofstukke in sy geskiedenis. Persoonwees en die morele status van die menslike embrio tegniese lewensontluistering tog ’n dissipline soos mediese etiek noodsaaklik. In hierdie artikel word die morele status van die menslike embrio eers geweeg in die lig van beskikbare gegewens. Omdat persoonwees in die moderne debat die sentrale kriterium is, word dit vervolgens ondersoek. Sentrale idees van hierdie ideologie in die huidige debat soos persoonwees, beheersingsmag, die morele aard, rasionaliteit en outonomie van die indiwidu en die reg op privaatheid, sal ter sprake wees. Andersyds val die klem op die afwesigheid en ontoelaatbaarheid in die moderne debat van idees soos openbaring, skeppingsordeninge, persoonwees as beeld-van-God-wees, normatiewe strukture vir die huwelik en gesin en transendente verantwoording
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