Survey of Basic Access to the Seeking of the MoralStatus of Embryo

Overview

The introduction of in vitro fertilization in 1978 provoked a broad debate about the ethical prob-lems of technological intervention on the human reproduction. It is obvious, that the issue ofwhether the human embryo is or is not a person seems to be most important in current debates onthe morality of selected abortion, cryopreservation and embryo experimentation. The seeking ofthe moral status of embryo addresses this fundamental question in a multidisciplinary manner. Itis clear, that the philosophical or ontological approach to the embryo has a direct bearing upona practical issues.This work deals with the moral status of embryo. The author claims, that we can establish his orher moral status by two different way. First it is a substantial approach. Then the embryo is theperson since the conception. Second is the historical approach. Then the person is a concept ofhuman being, that is unintelligible apart from social and historical context. But when we are notsure whether embryo is a person or not, it is wise to treat the embryo like a person.

Key words:
ontological personalism, empirical functionalism, embryo, human being, moral status,artificial reproduction.