O dwu sposobach pozyskiwania organów do transplantacji

Abstract

The technical possibility of carrying out transplantations of different human organs is usually associated with their scarce availability. Two solutions are put forward in order to deal with the issue: acquiring organs via a free market or sensitizing people to donation of organs as gifts. In the article these two proposals are considered with a special emphasis on the philosophical concepts of the person and his/her body which are presupposed in them. Critical examination reveals that a human body is an integral part of the person, hence cannot be treated as a commodity. Bodily organs can be treated, however, as a gift of one person to another. The logic of gift, then, is more adequate to who the person is, and it should influence people’s attitudes concerning organ donation.