This essay argues that Catholic bioethicists and moral theologians need an expanded theology of technological or technical domination. It describes five variants of the concept: (1) domination of persons over others, (2) prideful assertion of mastery over nature, (3) ambition to usurp the will of God, (4) over-emphasis on technical solutions to human problems, and (5) an ideology of utility, efficiency, and effectiveness. It is argued, however, that a sixth variant is needed in regard to twenty-first century technologies. Dietrich von Hildebrand’s observations of “the useful” can be employed to show how the instrumental rationality of technologies often gains a false motivational force. This preference for utility is encouraged by the complex, opaque, and autonomous structures of contemporary technologies.
本文认为,天主教的生命伦理学家和道德神学家需要一个技术或技术支配的扩展神学。它描述了这一概念的五种变体:(1)个人对他人的统治,(2)对自然的主宰的骄傲主张,(3)篡夺上帝意志的野心,(4)过分强调人类问题的技术解决方案,以及(5)实用、效率和有效性的意识形态。然而,有人认为,就21世纪的技术而言,需要第六种变体。迪特里希·冯·希尔德布兰德(Dietrich von Hildebrand)对“有用”的观察可以用来说明技术的工具理性如何经常获得一种虚假的动机力量。现代技术的复杂、不透明和自治结构鼓励了这种对效用的偏好。
{"title":"Technological Domination","authors":"Christopher M. Reilly","doi":"10.5840/ncbq20232313","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/ncbq20232313","url":null,"abstract":"This essay argues that Catholic bioethicists and moral theologians need an expanded theology of technological or technical domination. It describes five variants of the concept: (1) domination of persons over others, (2) prideful assertion of mastery over nature, (3) ambition to usurp the will of God, (4) over-emphasis on technical solutions to human problems, and (5) an ideology of utility, efficiency, and effectiveness. It is argued, however, that a sixth variant is needed in regard to twenty-first century technologies. Dietrich von Hildebrand’s observations of “the useful” can be employed to show how the instrumental rationality of technologies often gains a false motivational force. This preference for utility is encouraged by the complex, opaque, and autonomous structures of contemporary technologies.","PeriodicalId":86269,"journal":{"name":"The national Catholic bioethics quarterly","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70949889","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cervical insufficiency is present in up to 1 percent of pregnancies and is involved in a significant portion of pregnancy losses in the second trimester. The first line of treatment for most women with this condition is transvaginal cerclage. However, for some this is not sufficient, and a transabdominal cerclage must be performed. In a subset of women who receive transabdominal cerclage, there has been documented concern about subfertility. To the lay person, this may raise concerns that this approaches a contraceptive effect which would have implications on the liceity of the treatment; however, consideration of the current research on the procedure indicates that the subfertility is not a result of cerclage on its own, and ethical analysis through the principle of double effect further affirms the morality of this treatment.
{"title":"The Ethics of Transabdominal Cerclage Placement","authors":"E. Kramer","doi":"10.5840/ncbq20232314","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/ncbq20232314","url":null,"abstract":"Cervical insufficiency is present in up to 1 percent of pregnancies and is involved in a significant portion of pregnancy losses in the second trimester. The first line of treatment for most women with this condition is transvaginal cerclage. However, for some this is not sufficient, and a transabdominal cerclage must be performed. In a subset of women who receive transabdominal cerclage, there has been documented concern about subfertility. To the lay person, this may raise concerns that this approaches a contraceptive effect which would have implications on the liceity of the treatment; however, consideration of the current research on the procedure indicates that the subfertility is not a result of cerclage on its own, and ethical analysis through the principle of double effect further affirms the morality of this treatment.","PeriodicalId":86269,"journal":{"name":"The national Catholic bioethics quarterly","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70949900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Part One of the ERDs addresses the balance Catholic health care institutions must strike between their mission to carry out the healing ministry of Christ and the demands of the US health care system. Divided into two sections, the commentary begins by proposing revisions to the Part One introduction focusing on enhanced application of Catholic social teaching principles and a renewed call for robust conscience and religious liberty protections. It then proposes additions to the Part One directives designed to help Catholic health care respond with integrity to the many contemporarychallenges it faces, and to more full live out its mission and identity.
{"title":"Commentary on Revisions to the Ethical and Religious Directives, Part One","authors":"Jozef D. Zalot","doi":"10.5840/ncbq202323220","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/ncbq202323220","url":null,"abstract":"Part One of the ERDs addresses the balance Catholic health care institutions must strike between their mission to carry out the healing ministry of Christ and the demands of the US health care system. Divided into two sections, the commentary begins by proposing revisions to the Part One introduction focusing on enhanced application of Catholic social teaching principles and a renewed call for robust conscience and religious liberty protections. It then proposes additions to the Part One directives designed to help Catholic health care respond with integrity to the many contemporarychallenges it faces, and to more full live out its mission and identity.","PeriodicalId":86269,"journal":{"name":"The national Catholic bioethics quarterly","volume":"307 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134980066","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Catholic health care has long been focused on the needs of the poor, yet its primary interaction with the poor is in the delivery of health care and not within leadership. The preferential option for the poor is one tool that leads to greater participation. Especially important is the hermeneutic element that Pope Francis emphasizes. While some government programs already include those who are poor in leadership, Catholic health care is only starting to grapple with the Pope’s challenge. This essay explores inclusion of the poor in governance and strategic planning, revealing a better way to engage with those who are poor and give a better witness to the Gospel mandate for Catholic health care.
{"title":"The Preferential Option for the Poor and Participation","authors":"W. Hubbard","doi":"10.5840/ncbq20232316","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/ncbq20232316","url":null,"abstract":"Catholic health care has long been focused on the needs of the poor, yet its primary interaction with the poor is in the delivery of health care and not within leadership. The preferential option for the poor is one tool that leads to greater participation. Especially important is the hermeneutic element that Pope Francis emphasizes. While some government programs already include those who are poor in leadership, Catholic health care is only starting to grapple with the Pope’s challenge. This essay explores inclusion of the poor in governance and strategic planning, revealing a better way to engage with those who are poor and give a better witness to the Gospel mandate for Catholic health care.","PeriodicalId":86269,"journal":{"name":"The national Catholic bioethics quarterly","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70950198","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The proposed revisions to Part Three of the Ethical and Religious Directives (ERDs)—on the professional-patient relationship—call attention to a number of timely, culturally relevant issues that require an understanding of the dignity of the human person and the true health of body, mind, and spirit. Several key issues newly discussed in these proposed revisions include transgender policies, the question of referrals for unethical clinical interventions, and triage and limited-resource allocation protocols for crisis situations. This paper draws on the theological and philosophical basis forunderstanding the professional-patient relationship, especially in light of the metaphor of Christ the physician, in order to consider how the ERDs effectively address these key issues and promote true healing in Catholic health care.
{"title":"Healing, Wholeness, and the Professional-Patient Relationship","authors":"Columba Thomas","doi":"10.5840/ncbq202323222","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/ncbq202323222","url":null,"abstract":"The proposed revisions to Part Three of the Ethical and Religious Directives (ERDs)—on the professional-patient relationship—call attention to a number of timely, culturally relevant issues that require an understanding of the dignity of the human person and the true health of body, mind, and spirit. Several key issues newly discussed in these proposed revisions include transgender policies, the question of referrals for unethical clinical interventions, and triage and limited-resource allocation protocols for crisis situations. This paper draws on the theological and philosophical basis forunderstanding the professional-patient relationship, especially in light of the metaphor of Christ the physician, in order to consider how the ERDs effectively address these key issues and promote true healing in Catholic health care.","PeriodicalId":86269,"journal":{"name":"The national Catholic bioethics quarterly","volume":"72 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135506730","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Part Two of the Ethical and Religious Directives outlines the responsibility to care for the spiritual needs of patients and residents, following the example of Christ who both healed the sick and forgave them their sins. The proposed revisions to the introduction add a more explicit focus on the dignity of the sick, the redemptive value of suffering, and the potential evangelization that takes place through institutional health care. The proposed revisions to the directives emphasize that patients and residents have a right to receive spiritual and sacramental care. Likewise, Catholic healthcare institutions, medical staff, and pastoral care personnel have an obligation to arrange and provide adequate spiritual and sacramental care.
{"title":"Commentary on the Revised Part Two of the Ethical and Religious Directives","authors":"Hyacinth Grubb","doi":"10.5840/ncbq202323221","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/ncbq202323221","url":null,"abstract":"Part Two of the Ethical and Religious Directives outlines the responsibility to care for the spiritual needs of patients and residents, following the example of Christ who both healed the sick and forgave them their sins. The proposed revisions to the introduction add a more explicit focus on the dignity of the sick, the redemptive value of suffering, and the potential evangelization that takes place through institutional health care. The proposed revisions to the directives emphasize that patients and residents have a right to receive spiritual and sacramental care. Likewise, Catholic healthcare institutions, medical staff, and pastoral care personnel have an obligation to arrange and provide adequate spiritual and sacramental care.","PeriodicalId":86269,"journal":{"name":"The national Catholic bioethics quarterly","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135506731","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Part Five is in considerable need of revision. There have been many developments in medicine and health care that present serious moral challenges to the teachings of the Church. The recommendations below include new emphasis on palliative care and hospice, the right of Catholics to receive the sacraments and visits from the family during illness, further safeguards to protect those in a persistent vegetative state, the immorality of voluntary stopping of eating and drinking (VSED), the permissibility of do not resuscitate (DNR) orders, the limited use of palliative sedation, and the requirement that the standards for determining death be rigorously applied by medical professionals. Other minor recommendations seek to bring greater clarity to the existing directives.
{"title":"Narrative for Part Five of the Ethical and Religious Directives","authors":"Edward James Furton","doi":"10.5840/ncbq202323224","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/ncbq202323224","url":null,"abstract":"Part Five is in considerable need of revision. There have been many developments in medicine and health care that present serious moral challenges to the teachings of the Church. The recommendations below include new emphasis on palliative care and hospice, the right of Catholics to receive the sacraments and visits from the family during illness, further safeguards to protect those in a persistent vegetative state, the immorality of voluntary stopping of eating and drinking (VSED), the permissibility of do not resuscitate (DNR) orders, the limited use of palliative sedation, and the requirement that the standards for determining death be rigorously applied by medical professionals. Other minor recommendations seek to bring greater clarity to the existing directives.","PeriodicalId":86269,"journal":{"name":"The national Catholic bioethics quarterly","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134980216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Is St. Thomas’s Aristotelian Philosophy of Nature Obsolete? by Robert C. Koons","authors":"Matthew J. Advent","doi":"10.5840/ncbq202323230","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/ncbq202323230","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:p />","PeriodicalId":86269,"journal":{"name":"The national Catholic bioethics quarterly","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134980297","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Address to the International Congress on the Histopathology of the Nervous System","authors":"","doi":"10.5840/ncbq202222110","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/ncbq202222110","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:p />","PeriodicalId":86269,"journal":{"name":"The national Catholic bioethics quarterly","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70948499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}