PubMed · 2858028
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T J Martin. 1985-03-30. Embryo research.. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(85)91302-9
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This paper is based on the hypothesis that the effort to establish new criteria for diagnosing human death, which has been taking place over the past twenty years or more, can be viewed as a paradigm case for the impact of scientific and technological progress on morality. This impact takes the form of three tendencies within the change in morality, which may be characterized as 'denaturalization', 'functionalization' and 'homogenization'. The paper concludes with the view that these tendencies do not indicate a decline of morality, as feared by some authors, but rather a structural change.
Advances in research and technology are forcing us to confront hitherto unknown forms of life on both macroscopic and microscopic levels. Genetically engineered cells, human embryos growing in Petri dishes or preserved in freezers, human beings without hearts or functioning brains, these are just a few examples of the new forms of life. The challenge now is to determine what actions relative to these unfamiliar realities are morally acceptable.
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