Volume 69 (2014), 6

The papers ́ focus is on the idea of modern technological human enhancement, which on one side tries therapeutically to correct the biological defects of humans, and intentionally to create and enhance their abilities on the other. The issue is approached from two perspectives: ethical and biopolitical. The explorations derive from Habermas ́s analyses of ethical… Read more

The paper explores possible changes of personal identity due to deep brain stimulation (DBS) on the background of a universal problem of combining the persistence through time with the change of an object. It is argued, that in the conception of perdurantism the problem can be resolved without the elimination of identity. Here the identity is put under threat only… Read more

At present, the so-called “animal ethics“ is quite a standard part of bioethics. The moral dimension of humans ́ attitudes to animals became a traditional and at the same time inspiring subject in the field, though such efforts are neither new nor unique in history. Contemporary ethics is not just a theory. It is in many ways closely related to particular forms of… Read more

Nietzsche’s famous dictum “Become what you are” is one of the most difficult aspects of his philosophy. Although Nehamas’ (2001) influential interpretation elucidates how we can understand the apparent contradiction between being and becoming inherent in it, it does so only at the price of divorcing the dictum from the larger concerns of Nietzsche’s thought.… Read more

Reading philosophy through the figuration of the grotesque might provide us with an ontology that embraces change, fluidity, and disorder. In my estimation, such ontological framework gives rise to an epistemology that stands out for an incapacity to represent and be represented via classical tools of philosophy. I will argue that Nietzsche conceived of philosophy… Read more

The aim of the study is a critical analysis of Sitarčíková ́s theological and teleological arguments against radical human enhancement. Sitarčíková (2012) argues that it is necessary to protect human nature from (bio)technological interventions since they will lead to the destruction of human nature. Conseqently, humans will be deprived from the possibility… Read more

The paper tries to answer the question why contemporary (Slovak) undergraduate students have difficulty with moral dilemmas. According to the author the reason is the lack of classical moral stories in their education. First he takes as an example the Plotinus’ One (En. 3,2,8) and shows how his moral story, trivial at first glance, is carefully structured and… Read more

When in 1994 Indian Parliament enacted a law forbidding human organs trade (THOA), the doctors and donor organizations were forced to rely on altruistic feelings of donors. Medical authorities and politicians defended the new system of donorship referring to the philosophy of unselfish gift, especially gift of the body (deha-dāna) in Vedas, reinterpreting ancient… Read more