Stem Cells, Stem Cell Therapy, and Ethical Problems of Medicine
1Hruška I., 2Filip S.
1Ústav filozofie a společenských věd, Fakulta humanitních studií, Univerzita Hradec Králové 2Klinika onkologie a radioterapie LF UK a FN, Hradec Králové |
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Summary:
Common denominator of many philosophic approaches to the problem of using human embryos in
medicine is the statement that it is „a full-value human subject that deserves respect as an adult human
being“. It has a defined identity in which it starts its own coordinated gradual development. Therefore,
it is not just a simple cluster of cells. Integrity or holistic properties of a new quality of cells that, as
a whole, represent an early embryo, and in fact are not a cluster of pre-embryonic „structural“ parts or
a sum of cells etc. They have theirs own evolution, previously inherently encoded, but not precisely
predestined. In other words, only autointegrity alone in evolution, inherence as a part of
predetermination in evolution of embryo, is not able to exist as a unit „alone“. Human foetus since the
first moments of its existence goes through many qualitative (externally or internally determined)
transformations before it becomes a respectable human being. It is possible to say that medicine, as many
times before, is now coming to a stage when axiologic values, ethical directives or moral feelings of its
subjects and human objects proved in the past, are no more relevant at present. Therefore, medicine has
no other alternative than an active approach to study this problem from all philosophical, biological and
medical aspects to evolutionize itself in this new dimension. In this paper some of these questions are
discussed and some ways of forming the ethics in therapeutic use of stem cells are presented.
Key words:
stem cells, stem cell therapy, embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells, ethics, bioethics.
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