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2. What Counts as Respect? - Gregory R. Beabout
- The Catholic University of America Press
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Chapter 2 What Counts as Respect? Gregory R. Beabout Almost all health care institutions and personnel are, in some sense, committed to the principle of respect for persons. The mission statements of countless hospitals and health care institutions begin with some formulation of respect for persons, as do the codes of ethics of almost every group of health care professionals. Despite the near universal concern in health care to treat people with respect, there are many cases and instances in which there is significant disagreement about what it means to treat a person with respect. One area in which there is significant disagreement centers around the question “Who counts as a person?” For example, many of the controversies surrounding the topic of abortion center on this question. In Catholicism, the traditional answer is that every living human being, from the moment of conception until natural death, is a person. Of course, there are a growing number of people who answer the question in a different way, arguing that personhood is a state entered at a subsequent point in human development. In a similar way, some of the debates about the removal of artificial nutrition and hydration center on disagreements about the end of human personhood . My colleague John Kavanaugh has devoted himself to a detailed study of this question.1 I would like to complement his project by turning to another debate that arises among those committed to the principle of respect for persons. In particular, my aim is to show that in contemporary culture, 28 there is significant disagreement about what counts as respect. In this essay, I argue that part of this disagreement about the meaning of respect centers on subtle differences in the meaning of autonomy. After distinguishing between two kinds of autonomy, “radical” and “ordered,” I show that ordered autonomy is compatible with Catholic moral theology. Finally, I present a series of arguments against radical autonomy along with arguments that ordered autonomy is a better way to understand what it means to treat someone with respect as a person. Respect and Autonomy In determining what counts as respect, we quickly come to the concept of autonomy. For example, suppose we ask why it is wrong to hold a person in slavery. There seems to be a well-developed intuition among most contemporary people that slavery is absolutely wrong. In attempting to articulate that intuition, we tend to say that slavery is wrong because it fails to treat the enslaved human as a person, or that slavery fails to respect the inherent dignity and worth of the person. When we press further, to articulate more clearly what it means to respect someone as a person, we find that part of the reason slavery is reprehensible is that it fails to respect the person ’s capacity to make self-determining choices. In other words, slavery is wrong because holding a person in slavery fails to respect the enslaved person as an autonomous agent. In seeking to clarify what it means to treat someone “as an autonomous agent,” it is worth pausing for a moment to reflect on several various senses in which we use the phrase “as a .......” For example, one might say, “As a professional quarterback, you should practice throwing accurate passes.” In this sentence, the phrase “as a .....” could be used to refer to range, manner, justification, or a combination of these.2 First, the prescription “you should practice throwing accurate passes” could be seen as being qualified in range or scope by the phrase “as a professional quarterback.” All who fit in the range should follow the prescription. Second, it may specify the manner in which the command should be followed. How should you practice? You should practice the way a professional quarterback would, rather than using the approach of a high school player. In other words, in this case it might refer to the intensity and focus that characterize the habits of a professional. Third, it may be seen as justifying the command. Why should you practice w hat c ounts as res p ect? 29 [18.209.66.87] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 02:26 GMT) throwing accurate passes? Because you are a professional quarterback. Finally , the phrase “as a .....” could serve all three functions. In saying we should treat someone with respect “as a person,” we seem to mean all three of these things. When we say that slavery is wrong because it fails to respect the enslaved individual “as a...