2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
The Historical and Social Transformation of Controversies regarding Euthanasia/Death with Dignity; The Impact of Christianity within Bioethics and Thanatology.
| Project/Area Number |
15K02023
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Philosophy/Ethics
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| Research Institution | Ritsumeikan University |
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Principal Investigator |
OTANI Izumi 立命館大学, 産業社会学部, 教授 (30454507)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
川端 美季 立命館大学, 衣笠総合研究機構, 研究員 (00624868)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
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| Keywords | 安楽死・尊厳死 / フレッチャー / 死生学 / 生命倫理 / ナチス・ドイツ / T4 / 障害者 / 優生思想 |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
During World War II, while scrambling to implement legalized euthanasia, the executive boards of the ESA and VELS tried hard to dissociate it from the Nazi involuntary euthanasia program ‘Aktion-T4’ that put to death mentally and physically handicapped patients. The boards hoped that the war would “last a long time,” in pursuit of their goal.
Joseph F. Fletcher (1905-1991), a pioneer in the field of bioethics, was initially committed to the Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee and various labor movements as a priest of the Episcopal Church seeking social justice. Having advocated euthanasia and eugenic thought as a theologian, he obtained an appointment in the field of medical ethics, becoming the first scholar in the humanities at a medical school in the US. Through examining primary sources, it is demonstrated that there are affinities between the transition of Fletcher’s career and arguments for euthanasia and that of Ohta Tenrei, who led eugenic and euthanasia movements in Japan.
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| Free Research Field |
生命倫理学史
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| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
キリスト教神学者にして社会活動家でもあったジョセフ・フレッチャーが、第2次世界大戦直後からキリスト教の言辞を用いて、安楽死肯定論を展開していった軌跡は、アメリカにおける生命倫理学・死生学とキリスト教の関係を示すとともに、キリスト教の影響を離れて世俗化した日本の生命倫理学史の先取りを示唆するものである。
2018年に入り戦後日本の優生保護法による強制不妊手術への提訴があいつぐ一方、超高齢社会と他死社会の到来により台湾に次いで韓国でも「尊厳死」法が成立し、安楽死・尊厳死論の変容とキリスト教の関係を検討してきた本研究は、日本だけでなく東アジアにおいてオンタイムの社会的意義をもつものとなった。
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