1

“Scientific Concepts of Human Nature and their Implications to Bioethics in a scientific and

Technologically-Altered World”

James E. Trosko, Ph.D.Dept. Pediatrics and Human

DevelopmentMichigan State University

East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USAE-mail: james.trosko@ht.msu.edu

Home Page : http://www.phd.msu.edu/trosko

2

3

4

F.S.C. NORTHROP

THE LOGIC OF THE SCIENCES AND THE HUMANITIES.

The World Publishing Company, Cleveland, USA, 1967.

“ OUR PROBLEMS ARE ROOTED IN A VIEW OF THE HUMAN- NATURE

RELATIONSHIP WHICH IS DUALISTIC IN HOLDING THAT THE

MEANS OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCE CAN BE DERIVED FROM

NATURE, BUT THE ENDS WHICH DIRECT THEM , CANNOT.”

5

6

JAMES DRANE

• “ EVERY ETHIC IS FOUNDED IN A PHILOSOPHY OF HUMAN NATURE AND

EVERY PHILOSOPHY OF HUMAN NATURE POINTS TOWARDS ETHICAL

BEHAVIOR.”

7

LEON EISENBERG

• “ The Planets will move as they always have whether we adopt a geocentric or heliocentric view of the heavens. It is only the equations we generate to account for those motions that will be more or less complex; the motions of the planets are sublimely indifferent to our earth-bound astronomy. But the behavior of man is not independent of the theories of human behavior they adopt.”

8

JACQUES MONOD

• “ FOR THEIR MORAL BASES, THE ‘LIBERAL’ SOCIETIES of the WEST STILL

TEACH –OR PAY LIP-SERVICE TO- A DISGUSTING FARRAGO of JUDEO-

CHRISTIAN RELIGIOSITY, SCIENTIFIC PROGRESSISM, BELIEF in the ‘NATURAL’

RIGHTS of MAN , and UTILITARIAN PRAGMATISM.”

9

DANIEL CALLAHAN

• “ TO BUILD A FRESH ETHIC FOR THE LIFE SCIENCES IS TO BUILD A

CULTURE.”

10

JOHN DEWEY

• “A CULTURE WHICH PERMITS SCIENCE TO DESTROY

TRADITIONAL VALUES BUT WHICH DISTRUST ITS POWER TO CREATE

NEW ONES IS DESTROYING ITSELF.”

11

MAX OTTO

• “ THE UNIVERSE IS RUN BY NATURAL FORCES and LAWS, NOT BY MORAL

LAWS. HOWEVER, HUMAN SOCIETIES WHICH LIVE IN THE NATURAL WORLD MUST LIVE BY MORAL LAWS. IF THOSE

MORAL LAWS CONTRADICT THE NATURAL LAWS, IT WILL BE THE

HUMAN SOCIETIES, NOT THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE, WHICH SUFFER THE

CONSEQUENCES OF SUCH DEFIANCE.”

12

JOHN TONSOR

• “ IF we are to act ecumenically, let us begin not with theology, but with ethics.

Let put ethics at the center of our undergraduate curricula and stress the ethical implications implications of all post-secondary education whether it is

broadly humanistic or narrowly vocational. If we cannot agree on how to act, there is little hope that we shall agree

on what we are to believe”.

13

CENTRAL THESIS and BASIC ASSUMPTIONS

• 1. Ecological and psycho-social problems can not solved by re-cycling beer cans or by training more psychiatrists.

• 2. Problem is the result of bankrupt views of human nature that are the foundations of all religions and of most ethical philosophies.

• 3. Each human being holds a view of human nature which shapes values and practices of human intervention, that ,in turn, influences biological and psycho-social (cultural) development.

14

CENTRAL THESIS and ASSUMPTIONS.

• 4. The “NATURALISTIC FALLACY”, which states that the “OUGHT” can be derived from the “IS” or that “ VALUES” can be derived from “FACTS” is , itself , bankrupt.

• 5. ALL “FACTS” are “VALUE-LADENED” and all “VALUES” have an FACTUAL” or EXPERIENTIAL” basis.

• 6. ALL HUMAN DECISIONS HAVE BOTH A “FACTUAL” AND “VALUE” COMPONENT.

15

CENTRAL THESIS and BASIC ASSUMPTIONS

• 7. AT BEST, FACTS are always “INCOMPLETE”; at worse, FACTS can be DEAD WRONG.

• 8. AT BEST, VALUES are DIFFERENT; AT WORSE, VALUES CAN BE NON-ADAPTIVE TO THE SURVIVAL OF LIFE.

• 9. “BIOETHICS” is a MORAL PHILOSOPHY BASED ON A SCIENTIFIC VIEW of HUMAN NATURE.

16

CENTRAL THESIS and BASIC ASSUMPTIONS

• 10. “ BIOETHICS” states that while values can not be derived from facts, ethical values that ignore or ARROGANTLY DEFY SCIENTIFIC VIEWS of HUMAN NATURE, are themselves “ IMMORAL”.

• 11. THEREFORE, “BIOETHICS” REQUIRES THAT ALL RELIGIOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL ETHICAL SYSTEMS MUST INTEGRATE INTO THEIR MYTHS AND SYMBOLS SCIENTIFICALLY ACCURATE VIEWS OF HUMAN NATURE.

17

CENTRAL THESIS and BASIC ASSUMPTIONS

• 12. BECAUSE WE CURRENTLY LIVE IN A WORLD WERE THE BASIC RELIGIOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL ETHICAL SYSTEMS ARE NOT SHARED but THE USE OF SCIENTIFIC and TECHNOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE IS SHARED, THE POWER / CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR USE BY BANKRUPT and NON_SCIENTIFIC VIEWS OF HUMAN NATURE IS LEADING TO ECOLOGICAL DISASTERS and HUMAN MISERY

18

CENTRAL THESIS and BASIC ASSUMPTIONS

• BIOETHICS CAN CONTRIBUTE TO HEADING OFF DISASTERS BY:A. CREATING MORE OPTIONS FOR SURVIVAL;

B. MAKING REASONABLE PREDICTIONS of SOME of the CONSEQUENCES OF THESE OPTIONS;

C. UNDERSTANDING OUR BIOLOGICAL NATURE and the CONSEQUENCES of the DIFFERENT VALUE CHOICES.

19

POSSIBLE BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF THE ORIGIN OF THE CURRENT ETHICAL CRISES

• IT took hundreds of thousands of years for the biological evolution of human consciousness to occur.

• Once Human consciousness appeared, cultural evolution occurred at lightning speed because of “death awareness, creation of symbols and language.

• Survival, through “trial and error”, led to traditions, “wisdom” and “world views” of religious/philosophical ethical systems. Each human choice that minimized pain and suffering but maximized survival, comfort and pleasure was learned, codified, and passed on by cultural traditions and integrated into myths/symbols for the control of social behavior.

20

POSSIBLE BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF THE ORIGIN OF THE CURRENT ETHICAL CRISES

• Early consequences of non-scientific religious/philosophical ethical systems had minimal consequences on the ecology and survival of the human species ( although they did have horrific consequences on individual human beings; i.e. witch trials).

• Because the non-scientific views of human nature in religious ethics misused the technology of death control ( It is ethical to use of sanitation, antibiotics, etc.) to prevent infant deaths but it is unethical to use birth control, the population explosion has occurred. This has led to ecological /social/ psychological problems which now has access to weapons technology of mass -destruction.

21

SCIENTIFIC VIEWS OF HUMAN NATURE

• NATURE and NURTURE MODEL, NOT NATURE versus NURTURE.

• HIERARCHICAL VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE

• CYBERNETIC VIEW of HUMAN NATURE

• SYMBOLIC VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE

• EVOLUTIONARY VIEW of HUMAN NATURE.

22

NATURE AND NURTURE MODEL OF HUMAN NATURE

• All Characteristics of being human are the result of the interactions of genetic factors and environmental factors( physical, dietary, pollutants, medication, psycho-social, cultural).

• Xeroderma pigmentosum syndrome, a sun-light sensitive, skin-cancer prone human being, as an example.

23

24

25

26

27

HIERARCHICAL VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE

• THE “ WHOLE IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF THE INDIVIDUAL PARTS”.

• New properties “emerge” when individual levels are organized in particular ways…. A million bricks placed in a pile is just that…a pile! A million bricks placed in a structured manner

can be a cathedral.

28

29

30

31

CYBERNETIC VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE

“ We have modified our environment (physical , ecological and abstract) so radically that we must now modify ourselves in order to exist in this new environment”.

Norbert Weiner, The Human Use of Human Beings, Double day Press, N.Y., 1954.

32

33

SYMBOLIC VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE

“ MAN IS… NO LONGER IN A PHYSICAL UNIVERSE, MAN LIVES IN A SYMBOLIC (ABSTRACT OR IDEOLOGICAL) UNIVERSE.”

E. Cassirer, An ESSAY ON MAN. DOUBLEDAY , NEW YORK, 1956.

34

35

EVOLUTIONARY VIEW of HUMAN NATURE

“ FOR NOT ONLY IS MAN HIMSELF A PART OF NATURE, A NAKED APE IN THE CURRENT IDIOM , BUT HE IS A NAKED APE IN THE UNIVERSE THAT IS DECAYING TO A HOMOGENIZED NOTHINGNESS. ANY PHILOSOPHY OF MAN OR ANY THEOLOGY WHICH HAS NOT ADJUTED TO THIS PARTICULAR LOSS OF INOCENCE IS SIMPLY IGNORING THE INTELLECTUAL SCIENTIFIC MILIEU IN WHICH MODERN MAN MUST FUNCTION.”

H. Morowitz, Biology as a cosmological science” . MAIN CURRENTS IN MODERN THOUGHT, 28: 151-157, 1972.

36

37

38

BIOLOGICAL CULTURALEVOLUTION EVOLUTION

L.C.D = D.N.A Molecule L.C.D = Idea DNA Properties: Idea Properties:1. Information 1. Information 2. Replication 2. Replication3. Mutation: Copy Error 3. Mutation: Copy Error 4. Expression 4. Expression5. Feedback 5. Feedback

39

40

BIOETHICS

• BIOETHICS , THEREFORE, IS DEFINED AS THE PHILOSOPHICAL VIEW OF THE INTEGRATION OF THESE SCIENTIFIC VIEWS OF HUMAN NATURE INTO A WORLD VIEW TO GENERATE VALUES THAT USE SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND TECHNOLOGY IN WAYS THAT ALLOW FOR SUSTAINABLE ADAPTATION IN A CHANGING WORLD. IN EFFECT, BIOETHICS MUST BE LIKE SCIENCE, IN THAT IT MUST BE ,FOREVER, SELF-CORRECTING.

41

GLOBAL BIOETHICS

• “GLOBAL BIOETHICS CALLS FOR THE MOBILIZATION and COORDINATION of AGRICULTURAL, ENVIRONMENTAL, MEDICAL, and RELIGIOUS EFFORTS TO ACHIEVE A MORAL SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE, HUMAN HEALTH, HUMAN DIGNITY and HUMAN RIGHTS on a WORLD-WIDE BASIS. WHILE the EFFORTS of AGRICULTURE, ENVIRONMENTAL , and MEDICAL ETHICISTS are SECULAR, THEY MUST BE OPEN TO CONTRIBUTIONS of RELIGIOUS EFFORTS. AT the SAME TIME, the RELIGIOUS FORCES NEED to be OPEN to EACH OTHER and to be WILLING to COOPERATE with the SECULAR FORCES to WORK TOWARD a GLOBAL BIOETHIC as OUTLINED ABOVE. .THE EVILS of the PRESENT WORLD CULTURE ARE NOT ALL SECULAR”.

42

BIOETHICS

• “ The CHALLENGE for BIOETHICAL SUSTAINABILITY is to DEVISE a SYSTEM in WHICH EMPLOYMENT is SUSTAINED by PROGRAMS that DON’T WELCOME OVERPOPULATION, THAT BENEFIT DIVERSE POPULATIONS, THAT RESTORE and MAINTAIN the BIOSPHERE, and that ACTUALLY ATTEMPT to ASSUME SOME EFFORT in the INTEREST of FUTURE GENERATIONS.”

43

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

FOR INTELLECTUAL GUIDANCE and STIMULATION IN THE AREA OF “BIOETHICS”, I OWE A DEBT of GRATITUDE TO :

VAN RENSSELAER POTTER, Ph.D.

44

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

AND TO:Ante Covic, Ph.D., President of Croatian

Philosophical Society;Ivan Segota, Ph.D., President of the Croatian

Bioethics Society;Hrvoje Juric, Secretary of Organizing

Committee. Of “ DAYS of FRANE PETRI”

45