Bioethics and the Human Goods: An Introduction to Natural Law Bioethics PDF
Preview Bioethics and the Human Goods: An Introduction to Natural Law Bioethics
Bioethics and the human Goods This page intentionally left blank Bioethics and the human Goods An Introduction to Natural Law Bioethics Alfonso Gómez-Lobo with John Keown Georgetown University Press / Washington, DC © 2015 Georgetown University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gómez-Lobo, Alfonso, 1940– author. Bioethics and the human goods : an introduction to natural law bioethics / Alfonso Gómez-Lobo ; with John Keown. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-62616-163-4 (pb : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-62616- 271-6 (hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-62616-164-1 (eb) 1. Bioethics. 2. Natural law. I. Keown, John, author. II. Title. QH332.G65 2015 174.2—dc23 2015001489 This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials. 16 15 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 First printing Printed in the United States of America Cover design by N. Putens. To my wife, Jimena, and our children, Veronica, Andrés, Jimena, and Rosario This page intentionally left blank CoNteNts Preface ix Acknowledgments xv Introduction xvii Part I. Foundations 1. Bioethical Thinking 3 2. Principles 10 3. The Ethical Divide 15 4. The Ontological Divide 27 5. Potentiality and Genetics 36 Part II. Issues 6. Beginning-of-Life Issues 45 7. End-of-Life Issues 67 8. Issues in Transplantation 89 Epilogue 99 Appendix A: The Status of the Human Embryo 101 Personal statement of Professor George, joined by Dr. Gómez-Lobo Appendix B: The Determination of Death 110 Personal statement of Dr. Gómez-Lobo References 115 Index 121 This page intentionally left blank PrefACe This book was largely written by the late Alfonso Gómez-Lobo, Ryan Professor of Metaphysics and Moral Philosophy at Georgetown Uni- versity.1 He was an eminent scholar, beloved teacher, and cherished col- league. His loss was, and remains, keenly felt, both at Georgetown and at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where he was a visiting professor. An authority on classical Greek philosophy (he was fluent in ancient and modern Greek as well as six other languages), he was also an expert on bioethics. His expertise was recognized by the president of the United States, George W. Bush, who appointed him to the Presi- dent’s Council on Bioethics.2 Gómez-Lobo died at the close of 2011. He left an unpublished man- uscript on bioethics, which he had submitted to Georgetown University Press. The press had commissioned three referees’ reports. Although he had replied to these reports, his final illness prevented his completion of the project. My goal in completing his project has been, broadly, to finish it in the way he indicated in his response to the referees’ reports that he intended to finish it and, where he left no indication, to finish it in the way I think he would have finished it or at least would not have objected to it being finished. I have also made a number of relatively minor changes of my own, such as the addition of definitions, examples that illustrate points made in the text, and a bibliography. I have also added an appendix containing personal statements to the President’s Council by Gómez-Lobo on the status of the human embryo and on the determination of death, statements that flesh out his views on those matters. I have amended the work to take account of a number of de- velopments since the original manuscript was written and have made some stylistic changes and changes of emphasis and nuance. However, I have neither added nor subtracted anything fundamental. The finished product remains largely the work of Gómez-Lobo. About a third of the book is material I have written. There are precious few texts introducing students with an interest in bioethics—whether students of philosophy, medicine, or law—to the “natural law” approach to ethical reflection. Given the deep, historical influence of that tradition on Western political, legal, and moral phi- ix
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