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KMID : 1011120150090020175
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Bioethics Policy Studies
2015 Volume.9 No. 2 p.175 ~ p.199
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An Ethics of Community for Law and Religion : The Life Right of the Human Embryos from the Perspectives of Religion
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Yoo Kyoung-Dong
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Abstract
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When does a human life begin? This is one of the crucial questions that various religions have tried to answer. According to Abrahamic religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - human individual life is bestowed by God, not by any biological process. At the very moment of fertilization, a fetus is regarded as a mere material. But in the process of embryonic development, human soul is infused into the fetus. Only after the ensoulment, the fetus becomes a potential human being.
In Hinduism and Buddhism, the life right of fetus is explained through their unique idea of a wheel of life, samsara. While a fetus is seen as a living being from the beginning, it is not yet human life. After the soul is infused, the fetus can success the karma of its previous existence and, in turn, it can be a human life. From Confucian perspective, on the other hand, a fetus is respected so far as it is the potential familial member.
After considering all the thoughts from the religious perspectives on the human embryos, this paper comes to a conclusion that the right of the human embryos must not be limited in scientific knowledge but be considered in the context of the normative ethics in relation to human life. To achieve this goal, science and religion are encouraged to cooperate to understand human life and reestablish supervision on life ethics together.
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KEYWORD
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embryo, bioethics, human right, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism
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