10 - Bioethics and Natural Law

Summary

By acknowledging the place of reason in bioethics, natural law theory promises an ethics of life and death which, whilst acknowledging the social significance of consensus, consequences, cultural practices and competing religious precepts, offers a school of thought not reducible to these shifting, arbitrary and contradictory criteria. Advances in technology suggest that natural law theory can assist in the conduct of bioethics, if only because the natural law tradition entertains the possibility of universality, reason, objectivity and right answers in the realm of bioethics.

There are schools of thought that regard the death penalty a sound punishment for a change of religion or causing religious offence. In thirteen countries such legislation is recognised as binding and enforceable. These mandates are also seen by millions, both clerics and faith communities alike, as enforceable outside the jurisdictions that enact them.