The Debate on the Concept of a Person in Bioethics Cover Image

Debata na temat koncepcji osoby w bioetyce
The Debate on the Concept of a Person in Bioethics

Author(s): Grzegorz Hołub
Subject(s): Metaphysics, Ethics / Practical Philosophy, Human Ecology, Ontology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszawie
Keywords: concept of a person;person;humanism;naturalism; communitarianism ; humanism;personalism;

Summary/Abstract: This article endeavours to sketch the debate about the concept of a person in the realm of bioethics. Initially, it sets out three understandings of the issue, namely the concept of a person in a naturalistic philosophy, in the current of communitarianism and in one of the humanistic positions. The analyses of these approaches lead to the conclusion that a human person is perceived either as an empirical and psychological entity or as a free subjectivity creating him/herself. This thesis is stimulation to further research. In order to avoid a kind of dualism in perception of the person stemming from the stances outlined above, the personalistic approach is developed. This points out, that a human being should be depicted as one indivisible entity unifying in itself more strictly self, a subjective aspect of the person, with nature-body aspect which is an objective facet of being human. Given this personalistic perspective, a person comes out as an embodied subjectivity formed by the unique personal act of existence. In this article, such a concept of the person is argued as a vital support in the complex field of bioethical dilemmas.

  • Issue Year: 3/2005
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 187-201
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Polish