Bioethical Tendencies Regarding Peoplewith Deficiency

Abstract

This article was extracted from the second chapter of the doctorate thesis presented by the author in February 2010 in the Alphonsian Academy of Rome. In the article are showed different bioethics fronts with their respective positions and their practical consequences in disabled people’s lives. By some quotations from the works Practical Ethics and The foundations of Bioethics, from Peter Singer and Hugo T. Engelhardt respectively, we can see the urgency of reporting the dangers of this utilitarian front and this contractual model, because, when they deny the person status to the human beings with a serious mental disease, they declare their dignity invalid, denying the rights announced by the nations. We realize the need of a deep anthropology for the person concept not to stay restricted to the abilities, to the autonomy and to the autodetermination. But we need an anthropology that overcomes this partial reading that reduces the human dignity to the decision of moral factors. By the personalist bioethics we observe the importance of considering the person in its all dimensions, emphasizing the human dignity aspect that is prior to the abilities and outdo them demanding reception and respect, especially in weakness situations, questioning this way the ethical acting.