Precedent autonomy and personal identity
Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 9 (4):365-381 (1999)
| Abstract | : Debates on precedent autonomy and some forms of paternalistic interventions, which are related to questions of personal identity, are analyzed. The discussion is based on the distinction between personal identity as persistence and as biographical identity. It first is shown that categorical objections to advance directives and "Ulysses contracts" are based on false assumptions about personal identity that conflate persistence and biographical identity. Therefore, advance directives and "Ulysses contracts" are ethically acceptable tools for prolonging one's autonomy. The notions of personality and biographical identity are used to analyze the ethically relevant features. Thereby, it is shown that these concepts are operative in and useful for thinking in biomedical ethics. The overall conclusion is that categorical arguments against precedent autonomy or "Ulysses contracts" are based on misleading theories of personal identity and that advance directives are an ethically respectable tool for prolonging individuals' autonomy in cases of dementia and mental illness | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,875 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesMichael Quante (2007). The Social Nature of Personal Identity. Journal of Consciousness Studies 14 (s 5-6):56-76.
Debra J. H. Mathews, Hilary Bok & Peter V. Rabins (eds.) (2009). Personal Identity and Fractured Selves: Perspectives From Philosophy, Ethics, and Neuroscience. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Jennifer Radden (2004). Identity: Personal Identity, Characterization Identity, and Mental Disorder. In The Philosophy of Psychiatry: A Companion. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Helga Kuhse (1999). Some Reflections on the Problem of Advance Directives, Personhood, and Personal Identity. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 9 (4):347-364.
David DeGrazia (2005). Human Identity and Bioethics. Cambridge University Press.
Marya Schechtman (2010). Memory and Identity. Philosophical Studies 153 (1):65-79.
Michael F. Patton Jr (2002). Personal Identity, Autonomy and Advance Directives. Southwest Philosophy Review 18 (1):65-72.
David Shoemaker (2010). The Insignificance of Personal Identity for Bioethics. Bioethics 24 (9):481-489.
Theo Van Willigenburg & Patrick J. J. Delaere (2005). Protecting Autonomy as Authenticity Using Ulysses Contracts. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 30 (4):395 – 409.
E. Furberg (2012). Advance Directives and Personal Identity: What Is the Problem? Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 37 (1):60-73.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads63 ( #15,073 of 556,837 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #64,847 of 556,837 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
