Jones D G
Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Clin Anat. 1998;11(2):100-5. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2353(1998)11:2<100::AID-CA6>3.0.CO;2-Y.
Anatomy and ethics have traditionally been viewed as inhabiting different conceptual worlds on the assumption that the practice of anatomy is ethically neutral. This assumption is challenged by critiquing the nature of anatomy and by demonstrating that ethical issues pervade anatomical study. This should come as no surprise since anatomy deals with the structure of the human body, and it is the human body and human tissues that are central to bioethical questions concerning human life in both health and disease, at its beginning and end and in research and clinical practice. Furthermore, many issues of interest to anatomists, such as the mechanisms of organ and fetal tissue transplantation, the neurological bases of aging and dementia, and definitions of brain death, are best tackled by venturing into questions usually dealt with in a clinical context. By the same token, a number of clinical issues can be approached helpfully from starting points provided by anatomy, although they too have ethical dimensions. To illustrate the close interrelationship between anatomical and ethical issues, two topic areas are discussed: research on archeological human remains and the notion of the pre-embryo.
传统上，解剖学与伦理学被视为处于不同的概念世界，其依据是解剖学实践在伦理上是中立的这一假设。通过审视解剖学的本质并证明伦理问题贯穿解剖学研究，这一假设受到了挑战。这并不令人惊讶，因为解剖学研究人体结构，而人体和人体组织正是涉及人类健康与疾病、生命起始与终结以及研究和临床实践中生物伦理问题的核心。此外，解剖学家感兴趣的许多问题，如器官和胎儿组织移植的机制、衰老和痴呆的神经学基础以及脑死亡的定义，最好通过探讨通常在临床背景下处理的问题来解决。同样，一些临床问题也可以从解剖学提供的起点得到有益的探讨，尽管它们也具有伦理层面。为了说明解剖学问题与伦理问题之间的紧密相互关系，本文讨论了两个主题领域：考古出土人类遗骸的研究和前胚胎的概念。
