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García-Barranquero P, Llorca Albareda J, Díaz-Cobacho G. Is ageing still undesirable? A reply to Räsänen. J Med Ethics 2023:jme-2023-109607. [PMID: 37845013 DOI: 10.1136/jme-2023-109607] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 09/29/2023] [Indexed: 10/18/2023]
Abstract
We have recently stated the reasons why we claim that biological ageing is undesirable. Räsänen has responded to our article by arguing that this process has certain desirable aspects and, therefore, our position is inconsistent. Räsänen develops two arguments to defend his position. We will call the first the argument from the totality of the ageing process and the second the argument from the reduced goods of the ageing process. In this reply, we will give reasons to show that both arguments fail. The first, on the one hand, starts from a dubious conception of ageing and, on the other hand, even accepting this conception, its reformulation is morally empty. The second incurs in an absurd conclusion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pablo García-Barranquero
- Department of Philosophy (Logic and Philosophy of Science), Universidad de Malaga, Malaga, Andalucía, Spain
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Abstract
The debate over the determination of death has been raging for more than fifty years. Since then, objections against the diagnosis of brain death from family members of those diagnosed as dead-have been increasing and are causing some countries to take novel steps to accommodate people's beliefs and preferences in the determination of death. This, coupled with criticism by some academics of the brain death criterion, raises some questions about the issues surrounding the determination of death. In this paper, we discuss some of the main approaches to death determination that have been theoretically proposed or currently put into practice and propose a new approach to death determination called "weak pluralism" as a reasonable ethical and political alternative to respect diversity in death determination.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Alberto Molina-Pérez
- Instituto de Estudios Sociales Avanzados (IESA), CSIC, IESA-CSIC, Córdoba, Spain.
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Díaz-Cobacho G, Villalba A. A letter to the article "Whole Body Gestational Donation" published by Anna Smajdor in Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics. Theor Med Bioeth 2023; 44:375-378. [PMID: 37294408 DOI: 10.1007/s11017-023-09630-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/21/2023] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Adrian Villalba
- Department of Philosophy I, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
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García-Barranquero P, Llorca Albareda J, Díaz-Cobacho G. Is ageing undesirable? An ethical analysis. J Med Ethics 2023:jme-2022-108823. [PMID: 37286333 DOI: 10.1136/jme-2022-108823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2022] [Accepted: 05/19/2023] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
The technical possibilities of biomedicine open up the opportunity to intervene in ageing itself with the aim of mitigating, reducing or eliminating it. However, before undertaking these changes or rejecting them outright, it is necessary to ask ourselves if what would be lost by doing so really has much value. This article will analyse the desirability of ageing from an individual point of view, without circumscribing this question to the desirability or undesirability of death. First, we will present the three most widely used arguments to reject biomedical interventions against ageing. We will argue that only the last of these arguments provides a consistent answer to the question of the desirability of ageing. Second, we will show that the third argument falls prey to a conceptual confusion that we will call the paradox of ageing: although ageing entails negative health effects, it leads to a life stage with valuable goods. Both valuations, one positive and the other negative, refer to two different dimensions of ageing: the chronological and the biological. We will defend that, by not adequately distinguishing these two types of ageing, it does not become apparent that all the valuable goods exclusive to ageing derive only from its chronological dimension. Third, we will argue that, if we just conceive ageing biologically, it is undesirable. We will elaborate on the two kinds of undesirable effects biological ageing has: direct and indirect. Finally, we will respond to potential objections by adducing that these are insufficient to weaken our argument.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pablo García-Barranquero
- Department of Philosophy (Logic and Philosophy of Science), Universidad de Malaga, Malaga, Spain
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Llorca-Albareda J, Díaz-Cobacho G. Contesting the Consciousness Criterion: A More Radical Approach to the Moral Status of Non-Humans. AJOB Neurosci 2023; 14:158-160. [PMID: 37097875 DOI: 10.1080/21507740.2023.2188280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/26/2023]
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Díaz-Cobacho G, Hannikainen IR. Rethinking the Role of Experimental Philosophy in Bioethics. Am J Bioeth 2022; 22:69-72. [PMID: 36416423 DOI: 10.1080/15265161.2022.2134494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
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Díaz-Cobacho G, Cruz-Piqueras M, Delgado J, Hortal-Carmona J, Martínez-López MV, Molina-Pérez A, Padilla-Pozo Á, Ranchal-Romero J, Rodríguez-Arias D. Public Perception of Organ Donation and Transplantation Policies in Southern Spain. Transplant Proc 2022; 54:567-574. [PMID: 35303996 DOI: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2022.02.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2021] [Revised: 01/26/2022] [Accepted: 02/01/2022] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND This research explores how public awareness and attitudes toward donation and transplantation policies may contribute to Spain's success in cadaveric organ donation. MATERIALS AND METHODS A representative sample of 813 people residing in Andalusia (Southern Spain) were surveyed by telephone or via Internet between October and December 2018. RESULTS Most participants trust Spain's donation and transplantation system (93%) and wish to donate their organs after death (76%). Among donors, a majority have expressed their consent (59%), and few nondonors have expressed their refusal (14%). Only a minority are aware of the presumed consent system in force (28%) and feel sufficiently informed regarding the requirements needed to be an organ donor (16%). Participants mainly consider that relatives should represent the deceased's preferences and be consulted when the deceased's wishes are unknown, as is the case in Spain. CONCLUSION Public trust in the transplant system may contribute to Spain's high performance in organ donation. High levels of societal support toward organ donation and transplantation do not correspond with similar levels of public awareness of donation and transplantation policies in Spain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gonzalo Díaz-Cobacho
- Department of Philosophy 1, University of Granada, Granada, Spain; FiloLab-UGR Scientific Unit of Excellence, University of Granada, Spain
| | | | - Janet Delgado
- Department of Philosophy 1, University of Granada, Granada, Spain; ELPAT-ESOT Public Issues Working Group, European Society of Organ Transplantation, Padova, Italy; FiloLab-UGR Scientific Unit of Excellence, University of Granada, Spain
| | - Joaquín Hortal-Carmona
- Department of Philosophy 1, University of Granada, Granada, Spain; Centro de salud Albayzín, Servicio Andaluz de Salud, Granada, Spain
| | - M Victoria Martínez-López
- Department of Philosophy 1, University of Granada, Granada, Spain; ELPAT-ESOT Public Issues Working Group, European Society of Organ Transplantation, Padova, Italy; FiloLab-UGR Scientific Unit of Excellence, University of Granada, Spain
| | - Alberto Molina-Pérez
- Department of Philosophy 1, University of Granada, Granada, Spain; ELPAT-ESOT Public Issues Working Group, European Society of Organ Transplantation, Padova, Italy; FiloLab-UGR Scientific Unit of Excellence, University of Granada, Spain; Institute for Advanced Social Studies, Spanish National Research Council (IESA-CSIC), Córdoba, Spain
| | - Álvaro Padilla-Pozo
- Department of Political and Social Sciences, University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Julia Ranchal-Romero
- Institute for Advanced Social Studies, Spanish National Research Council (IESA-CSIC), Córdoba, Spain
| | - David Rodríguez-Arias
- Department of Philosophy 1, University of Granada, Granada, Spain; ELPAT-ESOT Public Issues Working Group, European Society of Organ Transplantation, Padova, Italy; FiloLab-UGR Scientific Unit of Excellence, University of Granada, Spain.
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Hortal-Carmona J, Díaz-Cobacho G. DoC and COVID Vaccinations: A Complex Decision. AJOB Neurosci 2021; 12:154-156. [PMID: 33960893 DOI: 10.1080/21507740.2021.1904039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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