On replacement body parts_revision.docx (104.41 kB)
On replacement body parts
© 2018, Journal of Bioethical Inquiry Pty Ltd. Technological advances are making devices that functionally replace body parts—artificial organs and limbs—more widely used, and more capable of providing patients with lives that are close to “normal.” Some of the ethical issues this is likely to raise relate to how such prostheses are conceptualized. Prostheses are ambiguous between being inanimate objects and sharing in the status of human bodies—which already have an ambiguous status, as both objects and subjects. At the same time, the possibility of replacing body parts with artificial objects puts pressure on the normative status typically accorded to human bodies, seemingly confirming that body parts are replaceable objects. The paper argues that bodies’ normative status relies on the relation of a body to a person and shows that persons could have similar relations to prostheses. This suggests that in approaching ethical issues surrounding prostheses, it is appropriate to regard them as more like body parts than like objects.
Funding
This research was supported by Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence funding scheme (grant ID CE140100012). My thanks to Robert Sparrow for extensive comments on several drafts of the paper. Thanks also to other members of the ethics and policy team at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science and participants at the 2017 European Society for Philosophy of Medicine and Healthcare Conference, for helpful comments and questions.
History
Publication Date
2019-01-01Journal
Journal of Bioethical InquiryVolume
16Issue
1Pagination
13p. (p. 61-73)Publisher
Springer NatureISSN
1176-7529Rights Statement
The Author reserves all moral rights over the deposited text and must be credited if any re-use occurs. Documents deposited in OPAL are the Open Access versions of outputs published elsewhere. Changes resulting from the publishing process may therefore not be reflected in this document. The final published version may be obtained via the publisher’s DOI. Please note that additional copyright and access restrictions may apply to the published version.Publisher DOI
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Social SciencesScience & TechnologyLife Sciences & BiomedicineEthicsMedical EthicsSocial IssuesSocial Sciences, BiomedicalSocial Sciences - Other TopicsBiomedical Social SciencesArtificialorgansProstheticsEmbodimentOrgan salesPROSTHESISCOMMODIFICATIONEMBODIMENTPACEMAKERSARGUMENTSRIGHTSNEEDSHEARTTOUCHArtificial organsArtificial LimbsArtificial OrgansHuman BodyHumansMind-Body Relations, MetaphysicalProstheses and ImplantsSelf ConceptApplied Ethics