Abstract

The proper role, if any, for religion-based arguments is a live and sometimes heated issue within the field of bioethics. The issue attracts heat primarily because bioethical analyses influence the outcomes of controversial court cases and help shape legislation in sensitive biopolicy areas. A problem for religious bioethicists who seek to influence biopolicy is that there is now widespread academic and public acceptance, at least within liberal democracies, that the state should not base its policies on any particular religion’s metaphysical claims or esoteric moral system. In response, bioethicists motivated by religious concerns have adopted two identifiable strategies. Sometimes they rely on slippery-slope arguments that, sometimes at least, have empirically testable premises. A more questionable response is the manipulation and misuse of secular-sounding moral language, such as references to “human dignity,” and the plights of groups of people labeled “vulnerable.”

中文翻译：

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生物伦理学和生物政策中的宗教：基督教生物伦理学家、世俗语言、可疑的正统信仰

摘要

以宗教为基础的论点的适当作用（如果有的话）是生物伦理学领域内一个生动的、有时是激烈的问题。这个问题之所以引起热议，主要是因为生物伦理分析会影响有争议的法庭案件的结果，并有助于在敏感的生物政策领域制定立法。寻求影响生命政策的宗教生命伦理学家面临的一个问题是，现在学术界和公众普遍接受，至少在自由民主国家，国家不应将其政策建立在任何特定宗教的形而上学主张或深奥的道德体系之上。作为回应，出于宗教考虑的生物伦理学家采取了两种可识别的策略。有时他们依赖滑坡论证，有时至少具有经验可检验的前提。