On the distortion of the concept of human in bioethics

Abstract

This article presents the hegemonic interpretation on the concept of “human” in Bioethics and represents this paradigm from Martin Heidegger’s concept of Dasein (“there being”). In the first part, we discuss how the “oblivion of being” (Seinsvergessenheit) allows the emergence of the “subject,” who finds in modern reason and metaphysics fertile ground for dominance of the dual model, subject object, on all contemporary phenomena, specifically bioethics. In the final part of the article, we reflect on the originality of Heidegger’s interpretation of human experience as Dasein. We intend to broaden the debate and the bioethical perspective on the concept of “human” and, with it, a whole range of “successors” concepts completely submerged in layers of tradition.