Conceptual analysis of "life" and "personal identity" in discourses of reproductive ethics

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24610009
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Bioethics
• Research Institution: Meiji Gakuin University
• Principal Investigator: KATO Shuichi 明治学院大学, 社会学部, 教授 (00247149)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 生殖倫理 / 概念分析 / 人格同一性 / 生命観 / 非同一性問題

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Two aspects of the concept of LIFE have appeared in ethical debates on reproductive technologies developed in recent years. One is the continuity or totality of life beyond individual lives; in contrast, another emphasizes the uniqueness of the objects who have lives, which is typically shown as a phrase such as "Kakegae no nai inochi" (a life that is not substitutable). This study focuses on the latter and tried to shed light on the latent concepts of personal identity that are contained by discourses of, for example, wrongful life lawsuits and animal protection movements. As a result, we have found that people have mixed attitudes toward objects that do not exist yet, such as future children. On the one hand people treat such objects as complete non-existence but on the other hand they treat them as if they are already born and exist.

Free Research Field

社会学