The status of the human embryo according to Michael Sandel

TL;DRAbstract

Michael Sandel is one of the most socially committed North American philosophers. In this paper, we analyse his thoughts in relation to the moral status of the human embryo. In general, Sandel thinks that human life should be considered as a gift, which in his opinion would make it intangible. However, he appears to favour the possibility of using human embryos for biomedical experiments. We examine the biological beginning of human life, and we argue that an early human embryo is not a cell cluster lacking a programmed structure, but a living being of our species, perfectly organised, with individual genetic identity, an ability to manage its development and its own autonomy. Therefore we argue that, based on the biological reality of the human embryo, this should be respected in all circumstances, something which Sandel, who is in favour of being able to use it for biomedical experiments, rejects.

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper