Evaluating the Morality of Transplanting Gonads

Abstract

When discussing the morality of gonad transplantation for procreative purposes, it can be tempting to examine the act solely qua reproductive technology. This paper, instead, compares the gonad to the kidney and evaluates the act qua organ transplantation. First, the author expounds a hierarchy of organs in relation to personal identity. Next, after considering an organ’s subjective effect on identity, the author elucidates an organ’s objective effect by ranking the powers of the soul and the goods of the human person. The hierarchy of organs shows the gonad to be among the highest organs and most perfective of the human person. Because of the gonad’s highly personal nature, it cannot licitly be directed to another’s good.