Rachels James
Bioethics. 1998 Apr;12(2):150-61. doi: 10.1111/1467-8519.00101.
The Principle of Agency says that if it would be good for a state of affairs to occur "naturally," then it is permissable to take action to bring it about. This contradicts the views of some bioethicists, who object to euthanasia, in vitro fertilization, and cloning, even though they acknowledge that the states of affairs produced are good. But the principle, or some form of it, seems inescapable. The opposite view -- that we may not, by our action, reproduce "natural" goods -- may owe its appeal to an implicitly religious view of nature.
代理原则认为,如果某种事态“自然地”发生是有益的,那么采取行动促成此事态就是可允许的。这与一些生物伦理学家的观点相矛盾,他们反对安乐死、体外受精和克隆,尽管他们承认所产生的事态是好的。但这一原则或其某种形式似乎是不可避免的。相反的观点——即我们不得通过行动来复制“自然”的善——其吸引力可能源于一种隐含的宗教性自然观。