Introduction: Ethics of care and donation of body parts

Abstract

This chapter introduces the issue of the International Journal of Bioethics and Ethics of Science that deals with the gift and utilization of body parts and substances of human origin in human health care. I notably emphasize, in this introduction, the idea that care ethics, in the variant developed by Paul Ricoeur, provides a framework that is peculiarly suitable for the treatment of the ethical stakes associated with the field of therapeutic activities so delineated. I also emphasize, on the basis of two relevant practical cases, the fundamental importance of the organization of the health care system, both factually and in terms of individual and collective responsibility. I devote, finally, a third section to a synthetic presentation of the contributions to this volume. The latter are structured by three great interdependent types of stakes : the epistemological stakes relative to the basic distinction between body and mind ; the ethical stakes centered, notably, on the norm of non-remuneration ; and the political stakes shaped, in particular, by the norm of self-sufficiency and the trade-off between self-sufficiency and non-remuneration.