The Edge of Life

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vii

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2. Introduction

   Pages 1-3

3. When Does a Human Being Become a Person?

   Pages 5-39

4. All Human Beings are Persons

   Pages 41-66

5. How is the Dignity of the Person as Agent Recognized?

   Pages 67-81

6. An Ethical Assessment of Bush’s Guidelines for Stem Cell Research

   Pages 83-96

7. Moral Absolutism and Ectopic Pregnancy

   Pages 97-103

8. Could Artificial Wombs End the Abortion Debate?

   Pages 105-121

9. Solomon’s Dilemma

   Pages 123-131

10. Capital Punishment and the Catholic Tradition

    Pages 133-149

11. Back Matter

    Pages 151-155

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The Edge of Life: Human Dignity and Contemporary Bioethics treats a number of distinct moral questions and ?nds their answer in the dignity of the person, both as an agent and as a patient (in the sense of the recipient of action). Characteristically one’s view of the human being ultimately shapes one’s outlook on these matters. This book addresses questions that divide a culture of life from a culture of death as well as a number of questions debated within the Catholic tradition itself. The Edge of Life offers a critique of the new bio-ethic, represented by such notable authors as Peter Singer; it also attempts to shore up some of the dif?culties leveled by critics against the traditional ethic as well as to answer some questions disputed by those within the tradition. This book does not treat the basic principles of morality but rather many of their applications and suppositions. (For an account of contemporary debates within the Catholic tradition on these matters, see Kaczor 2002). Rather, The Edge of Life seeks to address a number of disputed contemporary questions touching upon human dignity at what has been called “the margins of life. ” The ?rst section of the book treats the dignity of the human person as recipient of action and as agent. Chapter two examines various accounts of when a human being becomes a person.

• Ethics
• assessment
• bioethics
• cell
• morality
• quality of life

From the reviews: “Kaczor addresses a number of today’s key bioethical issues, in light of ‘the dignity of the person, both as an agent and as a patient’ … . Kaczor’s focus not only on human dignity, but also, and more specifically, on human action … . In general and in most particulars, The Edge of Life is an insightful and welcome contribution … .” (Kevin E. Miller, The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, Autumn, 2008)

• Department of Philosophy, Rice University, and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA

  H. Tristram Engelhardt

• Loyola University, New Orleans, USA

  Kevin Wm. Wildes

• Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA

  Christopher Kaczor

Policies and ethics