The Debate on the Concept of the Person in Bioethics

Grzegorz Hołub

doi:10.21697/seb.2020.18.5.11

Published: 2020-12-31

Vol. 18 No. 5 (2020)

The Debate on the Concept of the Person in Bioethics

Grzegorz Hołub

Studia Ecologiae et Bioethicae

Section: Humanistic Foundations of Environmental Protection

https://doi.org/10.21697/seb.2020.18.5.11

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 naturalistic philosophy, in the current of communitarianism and in one of the humanistic positions. The analysis 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 provides stimulation for further research. In order to avoid a kind of dualism in the perception of a 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 its 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 a person is argued as a vital support in the complex field of bioethical dilemmas.

Keywords:

person, naturalism, communitarianism, humanism, personalism.

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Hołub, G. (2020). The Debate on the Concept of the Person in Bioethics. Studia Ecologiae Et Bioethicae, 18(5), 125–135. https://doi.org/10.21697/seb.2020.18.5.11

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