Published: 2005-12-31

The Debate on the Concept of a Person in Bioethics

Grzegorz Hołub
Studia Ecologiae et Bioethicae
Section: Articles
https://doi.org/10.21697/seb.2005.3.1.11

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.

Keywords:

concept of a person, person, humanism, naturalism, communitarianism, humanismpersonalism

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Hołub, G. (2005). The Debate on the Concept of a Person in Bioethics. Studia Ecologiae Et Bioethicae, 3(1), 187–201. https://doi.org/10.21697/seb.2005.3.1.11

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