Bioethics ― A Culture War

The purpose of this book is to consider recent cultural trends in bioethics from a Catholic perspective. The first section describes modern cultural notions of health and human suffering. It examines the meaning of suffering in the contemporary world and relates this discussion to the ethical issues surrounding abortion, euthanasia, and the competing conceptions of health. The second section discusses the philosophical origins of the culture war, looking into the problematic bases of various forms of moral relativism and its inability to guide moral action. The third section contextualizes this abstract discussion in the current political and legal debate on biotechnology, marriage, and the family. Bioethics is intended for a lay audience interested in understanding bioethical issues from a Catholic perspective.

Nicholas C. Lund-Molfese, M.A., J.D. is Coordinator of the Ministry in Higher Education Agency of the Archdiocese of Chicago and Director of the Integritas Institute of the John Paul II Newman Center, University of Illinois at Chicago.

Michael L. Kelly is an undergraduate at the University of Chicago studying Biology and the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine. He is an Ethics Fellow and member of the Healthcare Ethics Advisory Board at the Integritas Institute of the John Paul II Newman Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago.