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The Ethical Crisis of Organ Transplants

In Search of Cultural "Compatibility"

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Anne Marie Moulin
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Extract

There is no concept, no matter how strange, in which human beings are not willing to believe fervently, so long as it offers some comfort from the knowledge that one day they will no longer exist, so long as it gives him them hope of some form of eternal life.

Norbert Elias

In the convent of San Domenico in Florence, Fra Angelico painted a miracle of topical interest. In it, we see a monk's cell and the holy surgeons Como and Damien who are attaching a healthy leg onto the body of an amputee. The progress of science has made it possible to realize bold dreams that have been expressed in the myths of seemingly antithetical cultures. Insofar as transplants can now be carried out on all the vital organs of the body, except the brain, modern medicine holds what would seem to be almost a promise of immortality, thus flattering human desire. How then can we explain the fact that, after a period of enthusiasm created by surgical feats, the anticipated spread of the operation has been frustrated by a marked reticence concerning organ donation? This phenomenon, widespread in the Western countries in which most transplants take place, indicates a “malaise of civilization.”

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 43 , Issue 172 , December 1995 , pp. 73 - 92
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

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References

Notes

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