移植技術と人間のこころ

Abstract

While it is undeniable that recent technological advances in medicine have wrought parallel advances in the field of organ transplantation, the sudden potential for such drastic medical intervention is not without its toll on the human existence. We do not argue that medical transplantation is without benefit, but its impact must be addressed by the human sciences of philosophy, psychology and sociology. In recent years, radical medical developments, of which organ transplantation is merely one aspect, have given rise to the entirely new discipline of "bioethics", but the philosophical and ethical foundations upon which the traditional humanities disciplines were erected do not provide us with a frame of reference adequate to the task of confronting contemporary technology and its potential consequences. In this paper we discuss some of the philosophical issues raised by organ transplantation technology. In the mechanistic model first advanced by the great early modern philosopher René Descartes, the human body is analogous to a machine, and each of its organs can be likened, on the basis of structure and function, to corresponding machine components. However, it is equally valid to view the body as more than the sum of its parts, as a unity. The paradoxical nature of the living human existence is the essence of the ethical dilemmas created by the divelopment of modern medical technology. To confront these dilemmas, a balanced perspective acknowledging both the physical and psychic aspects of the individual is required. The practice of organ transplantation can remain humanistic only as long as it works in concert with the original self-healing power already present in the individual.