COULD BODY PARTS BE CONSIDERED PROPERTY? BIOETHICAL, ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND METAPHYSICAL ISSUES
COULD BODY PARTS BE CONSIDERED PROPERTY? BIOETHICAL, ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND METAPHYSICAL ISSUES

Summary/Abstract: The status of one’s body parts in relation to transplantation has been debated among several possibilities: as commercial (individual) property, as surplus (waste), as non-commercial gift and as (community) resource. In this paper, we argue that, although all the above-mentioned options have been embraced by various legal and ethical systems, there is no way of escaping the epistemological limitations and contradictions that each position entails. The reason is that all claims concerning one’s body parts are metaphysical in nature and, as such, one cannot decide based on rational arguments in favor of any of them. We use the Kantian understanding of the distinction between „metaphysical ideas” and „intellectual concepts” and show that his distinction is useful in articulating the status of body parts. The Kantian solutions to antinomies are used to argue in favor of a “moral compromise” between four possibilities: that of property, waste, commodity or community resource.

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