Proceedings of the 32nd International Academic Conference, Geneva

MEDICINE, HEALTH AND HUMAN SENSE: RESPONSIBILITY IN MEDICAL PRACTICES

GABRIELA PALAVICINI

Abstract:

Along the history, the world has been worried about evolution in some different areas. Medicine has been mainly, one of them. Nevetheless, has this evolution been positive in the sense of creating benefits? The question emerges when we consider that evolution has been able to modify the individual´s natural processes, with consequences that are even public in terms of expenses. Taking into account this idea, our research question arises: ¿Which are the role and the human sense that this Discipline (Medicine), that is more humanistic than scientific, should have, in a world where utilitarianism prevails over non material gains, as well as their implications in the making decision level, health and human sense, these, responsibility areas? The fact that we consider the rising of artificial procedures to generate life as well as to defy time and death, leads us to mention the main objective of this paper: to present some ideas about the actual perception of the medical practice and about its ough to be, in terms of responsibility and human sense with the patient, face to the acceptance of artificial practices, exceeding the limits of the Discipline. A secondary objective is to approach a social theme that motivate to think about new and recurrent practices, at present, in the Medical area. Examples of these practices are the assisted fertilization and the genetic modification, among others. The hypothesis of this work is that in the desire of going further in the medical knowledge, Medicine has lost its nature, in terms of forgetting the natural and vital processes of patients, where the human being has become what Nancy has called an “artifice subject” (Nancy) and blur the Medicine’s main duty, that is to restore individual´s health. This is why, from the Political Philosophy perspective, we will analyze, in a first time, the concept of human being and we will consider the Trias’ Theory about The Limit, taking into account that in all areas limits exist, even if the contribution to society can be important in terms of people’s benefit, -as can be to cover an individual’s desire-. In a second time, we will try to establish those implications that practices exceeding limits can present in health. as well as in the individual’s human sense.

Keywords: limit, medicine, health, human sense, contemporary “artificial” practices

DOI: 10.20472/IAC.2017.032.034

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