Sociocultural Foundations of Bioethics' Genesis: Individuality or Identity?

Revealing of causes of bioethics' emergence allows not only to trace history of new science discipline formation, its genesis but also to formulate the main purpose of bioethics - protection of human rights and dignity via protection of human individuality. Besides the question is very individuality not personality or identity. Personality does not change and individuality is entirely under the threat of its modification (that cause its loss when its unique, individual features disappear) or direct destruction, annihilation (as in the event of artificial abortion - an embryo is not a personality in the true sense of the word but exist as a human individuality already). Striking instance of losing individuality is face transplantation. It impossible to replace "individuality" concept with "identity". Individuality is totality of human features. Being "a fragile property of personality" (S. Benkhabib), individuality does not coincide with identity because identity suppose an attitude of individual to himself, describe his affiliation with some community. Targeting bioethics on individual caused by epistemo-logical features of medicine and specifics of bioethical problems emerging as a result of some bio-medical technology application as well as by medicalization of culture. Medicine deals with individual phenomena, its objects are individual cases, situations and documents. Epistemological features of medicine spring from this stipulated by gap of "two cultures" in it on the one hand and dual nature of medical knowledge (as nomothetic and ideographic science) on the other hand. In turn it actualize in bioethics a patient's individuality in its different manifestations. In bioethics individuality possess all features of historical individuality: it is indivisible and cannot be divided in composite parts, it has temporality and development, it is an element of social organization. Comprehension of individuality as historical individuality allow to define borders of human existence in more clear way and reveal a place and significance of bioethics in solving problem of individuality protection.

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