Human Dignity and Bioethics

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Human Dignity and the
Mystery of the Human Soul
Robert P. Kraynak
B
iotechnology and the life sciences have astonished the world in
recent years, but they have also disoriented people by raising a
whole new set of ethical issues. In response, a new branch of moral
philosophy has emerged—bioethics—whose task is to grapple with
the ethical challenges of cloning, stem cell research, genetic engineering,
in vitro fertilization, drug therapy, new techniques for arresting
the aging process, and aspirations to conquer death itself. While the
policy debates about these issues are complex, they usually revolve
around a few moral principles that might be summed up in three
terms—utility, the advancement of knowledge, and human dignity.
The first term, utility, is broadly understood to mean promoting
the greatest happiness of mankind by relieving human suffering
and improving the human condition. This is often the first principle
people cite when they argue that advances in biotechnology are
needed in order to cure genetic diseases or to help infertile couples
have children. The second principle, the advancement of knowledge,
is usually combined with the first under the rubric of “progress”:
the biotechnical revolution is part of the inevitable development of
modern science which not only has practical benefits but also intrinsic
value in advancing our understanding of the universe and man.
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