When Society Owns My Body... Ethical Perspectives on Knowing in Advance Possible Health Issues and the Embodiment

Abstract

"Living in today’s society was presented by some philosophers as an imperative to assume risks that the humanity is still not able to handle. Hence one important question that we may ask is: living today is indeed more dangerous than in the previous centuries? Presenting the advancement of the biotechnologies as an apocalyptical danger that will surpass the human capacity of management is a perspective not entirely accurate. Medical literature highlights the decrease rate of morbidity in the last decades by some diseases due to medical advancement. Therefore, a balanced view of living in today’s society would also point the possibility to know in advance the emerging health dangers and even to calculate their percentage. Nowadays, a patient is supported from the moment when a medical investigation reveals potential health issues. The new body regulation policies induce changes in the social apperception of health and disease. There is a slow slippery slope from the approach on the individual as a sick person just in case of having symptomatic manifestations and our times when some preconditions of the disease are detectable in medical laboratories. Are we aware about the ethical aspects of treating the carrier of a non-manifested condition as an already sick person? Society also promotes a discourse of non-discrimination and inclusion. Where can we find a balance in the context of the medical advancement? The present study is a philosophical dialectical approach on the ethical issues of the embodiment in the era of new medical biotechnologies. "