Taking care of health in a society focused on productivity and self-optimisation - Ethical values of the environment

Abstract

The paper deals in one of the most important ethical values - health, care for health in a society which focuses on productivity and self-optimisation. Health is not only an invaluable value, but also a moral duty of a post-modern man. In this context, societies have at least two concepts of care for the health of an individual and population: it is the Michel Foucoult’s concept of biopower and the Ulrich Beck’s concept of risk society. Michel Foucoult perceives health as a technology of disciplined power. Within anatomic politics forming one of the aspects of biopower, Foucoult draws attention to the the creation of docile body as an object of clinical interest under massive assistance of all kinds of examination, testing, monitoring technologies in order to diagnose, create new therapeutic technologies or instruments. In the biopolitics - the other side of biopower - attention turns to the health of the nation, population and, thereby, e.g. to governmental healthcare programmes and social policy. According to M. Foucoult, the state should assume co-responsibility for the health of population and the individual. All of this in exchange for the individual’s loss of freedom to care for her own health alone. An opposite trend is represented by the concept of U. Beck of risk society in which author emphasises personal responsibility of the individual for her health without participation of the state. The progress of society goes hand in hand with technological, ecological, and social risks which affect every single individual without exception, these risks are egalitarian, democratic. Health thus becomes a project for the life of each one of us. If we want to accomplish this project, we have to combine it with prevention and, consequently, also with education. Such projects may also fully engage applied ethicists in such sub-disciplinary applied ethics as is social ethics (sports ethics, human rights ethics), or professional ethics (medical, teacher’s ethics, ethics of a public or state administration worker, etc.), or the ethics of science and technology, or media (advertising). Health has a human object - body that is the product of genes, i.e. of nature. However, culture pushes it towards perfection, productivity, capability. This dependence of body on culture may also have shady sides e.g. in the form of doping. We are living hyper-consumption times pushing humans not only to massive consumption e.g. of food and subsequent prevention of obesity and cardiovascular diseases, but also to heroic productivity that we aim for in order to touch perfection - simply, we want to be fit. Such behaviour and conduct focuses on attainment of happiness, good or quality life, satisfaction, and better future. This way, we are developing values which could serve as a background for building the ethical environment of a 21stcentury society. In order to institutionalise ethics in real life, the case study seems to be an appropriate method as a form of qualitative research affecting both education and trainings. One of the grave objectives of case studies in ethics is the increase in ethical sensitivity and, of course, the skills in solving moral dilemmas by way of alternatives with moral justification. Basis for such thinking should be taken from well-balanced (coherent) thinking within some of the generally recognised ethical approaches - normative ethical theories. This method was applied for the presentation of the significance of the bonds between health and the environment.