Teologia wobec wyzwań bioetyki

Abstract

A teacher of Moral Theology at the Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Warsaw is presenting in this article some fundamental questions concerning the relationships between theology and bioethics. As human science and theology are inspired to face new challenges with the progress of biomedical technics, it is necessary to rethink their present attitude towards the sciences. It means that the content of assertions of the anthropological, ethical and theological domains has to be proved, in order to keep them adequate with their own origin and at the same time to render them capable to face the problems of the modem technological civilization. This article is attempting to understand different kinds of problems in the biomedical domain and their anthropological and ethical relevance from the theological point of view. First, he gives the definition of bioethics as an ethical reflection on the possibilities of a responsible application of modern biomedical power into human life. Then he supplies the statement that the notion of the nature and the paradigm of advancement of modern technology are fundamentally wrong. The cause of that is dualism in the understanding of man and nature. Another fallacy largely acknowledged in modern technology is the principle of F. Bacon: “knowing is being able to”. Such notion of nature and technology generate a crisis of sense in the modern progress of science, technology and medicine. A philosopher and especially a theologian is a protector of the sense of reality and is most authorized to take part in solving the present bio-ethical dilemmas. The theologian’s task, who considers an informing role of faith in respect to reason, is to lead to an understanding of the value and the sense of nature as creation as well as man’s place in the world. Moral theology is to evaluate critically in the biomedical area the value of human engagement in the world and some contemporary moral systems regulating human action and also the current proposals of the secular renewal of casuistry.