Thinking About End of Life in Teleological Terms

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Opublikowane: 2015-09-26
DOI: https://doi.org/10.13153/diam.45.2015.793
Słowa kluczowe:
bioethics, Aristotelian, fundamentalist, end of life, telos, eudaimonia, death, illness, suffering, virtue

Main Article Content

Paolo Biondi
University of Sudbury image/svg+xml
Rachel Haliburton
University of Sudbury image/svg+xml

Abstrakt

This brief paper presents an Aristotelian-inspired approach to end-of-life decision making. The account focuses on the importance of teleology, in particular, the telos of eudaimonia understood as the goal of human flourishing as well as the telos of medicine when a person’s eudaimonia is threatened by serious illness and death. We argue that an Aristotelian bioethics offers a better alternative to a “fundamentalist bioethics” since the telos of eudaimonia (i) offers a more realistic conception of the self and the realities of frailty and mortality, (ii) provides a more objective basis for making decisions regarding end-of-life treatment and care, and (iii) is better able to resist the pull of the Technological Imperative. In addition, this teleological concept is flexible enough for it to be employed in multicultural and pluralistic societies.

Article Details

Numer

Nr 45 (2015)

Dział

Temat specjalny – Arystotelesowskie źródła bioetyki

Teksty zaproponowane do naszego czasopisma nie powinny być nigdzie publikowane przed ukazaniem się w „Diametros”. Wraz z przesłaniem swojego utworu redakcji autor akceptuje, że w momencie zakwalifikowania tekstu do publikacji czasopismo „Diametros” będzie stosowało licencję the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Na podstawie tej licencji autorzy zgadzają się, że ich prace mogą być zgodnie z prawem ponownie wykorzystywane do jakichkolwiek celów bez konieczności uzyskania uprzedniej zgody ze strony autora lub wydawcy. Każdy może prace te czytać, pobierać, kopiować, drukować, rozpowszechniać oraz przetwarzać, pod warunkiem poprawnego oznaczenia autorstwa oraz oryginalnego miejsca publikacji. Autorzy zachowują prawa autorskie do swoich utworów bez żadnych innych ograniczeń. Pełna informacja na temat licencji CC BY: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

Biogramy autorów

Paolo Biondi - University of Sudbury

Dr. Paolo Biondi
Associate Professor and Chair
Department of Philosophy
University of Sudbury
935 Ramsey Lake Road
Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6
CANADA

E-mail: pbiondi@usudbury.ca

Rachel Haliburton - University of Sudbury

Dr. Rachel Haliburton
Associate Professor
Department of Philosophy
University of Sudbury
935 Ramsey Lake Road
Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6
CANADA

E-mail: rhaliburton@usudbury.ca

Jak cytować

„Thinking About End of Life in Teleological Terms”. 2015. Diametros, nr 45 (wrzesień): 1-18. https://doi.org/10.13153/diam.45.2015.793.

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