What anthropology for bioethics?

Szczepan Kaleciak

szczepankaleciak@pm.me
The Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow, Poland (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3059-5909

Abstract

The pluralism of approaches in bioethics is a consequence of the different anthropological conceptions represented by the various ethical systems. The present study examines the different conceptions of understanding of human beings in the main contemporary bioethical theories, such as those of Beauchamp, Singer, Engelhardt and Warren, and assesses their adequacy. Personalism is then presented as a counter-proposal, emphasising that medical, psychological and juridical knowledge is insufficient for the purpose of making moral judgements. Finally, the question of the illumination of these anthropologies by the Revelation is posed.

Keywords:

personalism, principlism, ethical anthropology, personalist anthropology, human dignity

Catéchisme de l’Église Catholique. (2012) Desclée-Mame.
  Google Scholar

Choromański, A. (2015). The human person as the “relational being” – Anthropological fundations of ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council. Studia Theologia Dogmatica, 1, 58–87.
  Google Scholar

Clouser, D. K., Gert, B. (1990). A Critique of Principlism. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 15(2), 219–236.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jmp/15.2.219   Google Scholar

Concile Vatican II (1965). Gaudium et Spes.
  Google Scholar

Congrégation pour la doctrine de la foi. (1974). Déclaration Questio de abortu sur l’avortement provoqué.
  Google Scholar

Conseil pontifical pour la pastorale des services de la santé. (1995). Charte des personnel de la santé.
  Google Scholar

Engelhardt, T. H. (1996). The foundations of bioethics. Oxford University Press.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195057362.001.0001   Google Scholar

Francois. (2020). Fratelli tutti, AAS 112 (11), 969-1074.
  Google Scholar

Garcia, J. L. A. (2020). Virtues and Principles in Biomedical Ethics. The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine, 45(4-5), 471–503.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jmp/jhaa013   Google Scholar

Jean XXIII. (1961). Mater et Magistra. AAS 53, 401-464.
  Google Scholar

Jean-Paul II. (1979). Redemptor hominis, AAS 71, 259-324.
  Google Scholar

Jean-Paul II. (1985). Lettre apostolique à tous les jeunes du monde à l’occasion de l’année internationale de la junesse, AAS 77, 579-628
  Google Scholar

Jean-Paul II. (1991). Centessimus annus, AAS 83, 793-867.
  Google Scholar

Jean-Paul II. (1994). Tertio Millennio Adveniente, AAS 87, 5-41.
  Google Scholar

Jean-Paul II. (1995). Evangelium vitae, AAS 87, 401-522.
  Google Scholar

Kieniewicz, P. (2011). Anthropological Argument in Bioethics. Teologia i Moralność, 10, 25–40.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/tim.2011.10.2.2   Google Scholar

Moreland, J. P., Mitchell, J. (1995). Is the Human Person a Substance or a Property-thing? Ethics & Medicine, 11(3), 50–55.
  Google Scholar

Pellegrino, E. D. (2000). Bioethics at Century’s Turn: Can Normative Ethics Be Retrieved? The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 25(6), 655–676.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1076/jmep.25.6.655.6133   Google Scholar

Pie XII. (1951). Discorso di sua santita Pio pp. XII alle partecipanti al congresso della unione cattolica italiana ostetriche. Pozyskano z: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/it/speeches/1951/documents/hf_p-xii_spe_19511029_ostetriche.html
  Google Scholar

Richardson, H. S. (2000). Specifying, Balancing, and Interpreting Bioethical Principles. The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 25(3), 285–307.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1076/0360-5310(200006)25:3;1-H;FT285   Google Scholar

Seifert, J. (2003). The Right to Life and the Fourfold Root of Human Dignity. In E. Sgreccia, de Dios Vial Correa, Juan (Ed.), The Nature and Dignity of the Human Person as the Foundation of the Right to Life. The Challenges of the Contemporary Cultural Context (p. 194215).
  Google Scholar

Singer, P. (1987). Animal liberation or animal rights? The Monist, 70(1), 3–14.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5840/monist19877018   Google Scholar

Singer, P. (1996). Rethinking life and death: the collapse of our traditional ethics. St. Martin’s Griffin.
  Google Scholar

Singer, P. (2009). Speciesism and moral status. Metaphilosophy, 40(3/4), 567581.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9973.2009.01608.x   Google Scholar

Spaemann, R. (2006). Persons: The Difference Between Someone and Something. Oxford University Press.
  Google Scholar

Thornton, T. (2006). Judgement and the role of the metaphysics of values in medical ethics. Journal of Medical Ethics, 32(6), 365–370.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/jme.2005.012518   Google Scholar

Trotter, G. (2020). The Authority of the Common Morality. The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 45(4-5), 427–440.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jmp/jhaa015   Google Scholar

Warren, M. A. (1973). On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion. The Monist, 57(1), 43–61.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5840/monist197357133   Google Scholar


Published
2026-06-30

Cited by

Kaleciak, S. (2026). What anthropology for bioethics?. Warsaw Theological Studies, 39(1), 79–90. https://doi.org/10.30439/WST.2026.1.6

Authors

Szczepan Kaleciak 
szczepankaleciak@pm.me
The Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow, Poland Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3059-5909

Rev. Szczepan Kaleciak — holder of a master's degree and a licentiate in theology from the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków; medical doctor. Prior to entering the seminary, he collaborated with the Institute of Bioethics at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków and with the Bioethics Counseling Center in Kraków. His research interests include bioethics and medical ethics, with particular attention to their contemporary currents.



Statistics

Abstract views: 1
PDF downloads: 1


License

Copyright (c) 2026 Szczepan Kaleciak

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The journal is available free-of-charge and according to the Open Access regulations (as a PDF file on the website). The authors do not incur any costs related to publication. The journal is published in accordance with the Creative Commons license standard:  CC BY-ND 4.0 (Attribution – NoDerivatives 4.0 International)  and does not follow a concrete policy of conducting research. By submitting the article, the author gives the consent to such a form of sharing the text. The authors of the published articles retain their copyrights.