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Life and nature are imperfect, uncontrollable, largely (and perhaps permanently) unknowable, that is to say: contingent. The contingency of life is a significant challenge for medicine and technology. Life sciences seem to broaden the possibilities of control to an extent that the contingency of life and nature is no longer self-evident. This very broad diagnosis raises a lot of serious questions. Is it a valid diagnosis? Are the life sciences really defying the contingency of our existence? Or we only manipulated with utopian promises? And if contingency is really being challenged, why should we worry about it? Is contingency essential for a meaningful life and way of life? This volume explores the different dimensions of how the contingency of life, and especially human life, is relevant for ethical discussions and the normative frameworks in bioethics. It explores the relevance of the notion contingency, needs and desires for moral argumentation and bioethics. The volume discusses those notions in a philosophical perspective, but pays special attention to the impact of life sciences for people with disabilities and intercultural perspectives on the bioethical debates. Additionally, the volume is a contribution to a deeper reflection on basic philosophical assumptions of bioethics.
E-Book Content
THE CONTINGENT NATURE OF LIFE
INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY OF ETHICS, LAW, AND THE NEW MEDICINE Founding Editors DAVID C. THOMASMA† DAVID N. WEISSTUB, Universit´e de Montr´eal, Canada THOMASINE KIMBROUGH KUSHNER, University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A.
Editor DAVID N. WEISSTUB, Universit´e de Montr´eal, Canada
Editorial Board TERRY CARNEY, University of Sydney, Australia ¨ MARCUS DUWELL, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands SØREN HOLM, University of Cardiff, Wales,United Kingdom GERRIT K. KIMSMA, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands DAVID NOVAK, University of Toronto, Canada EDMUND D. PELLEGRINO, Georgetown University, Washington D.C., U.S.A. DOM RENZO PEGORARO, Fondazione Lanza and University of Padua, Italy DANIEL P. SULMASY, Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers, New York, U.S.A. LAWRENCE TANCREDI, New York University, New York, U.S.A.
VOLUME 39
The titles published in this series are listed at the end of this volume.
The Contingent Nature of Life Bioethics and Limits of Human Existence
Edited by
¨ MARCUS DUWELL Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
CHRISTOPH REHMANN-SUTTER Universit¨at Basel, Switzerland and
DIETMAR MIETH Universit¨at T¨ubingen, Germany
Christoph Rehmann-Sutter Universit¨at Basel Switzerland
Marcus D¨uwell Universiteit Utrecht The Netherlands Dietmar Mieth Universit¨at T¨ubingen Germany
ISBN: 978-1-4020-6762-4
e-ISBN: 978-1-4020-6764-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2007938399 c 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.
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Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
Part I Contingency of Life and the Ethical The Value of Natural Contingency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ludwig Siep
7
Between Natural Necessity and Ethical Contingency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Ahmet Hadi Adanali Of Poststructuralist