The bioethics of metabolism: a bridge back to the future

Abstract

Bioethics was born a half century ago when philosopher Hans Jonas, oncologist Van Rensselaer Potter and others began to call for a new ways of thinking that could respond to the challenges of explosive growth in human population, depletion of natural resources, threats to human health having roots in abundance and overconsumption and the emergence of novel technological capabilities. In a recent paper, Lisa Lee has argued that bioethicists have lost sight of this vision, focusing narrowly on problems in human medicine or environmental sustainability, while ignoring their interconnection. Echoing the title of Potter’s 1971 book Bioethics: Bridge to the Future, Lee says that it is time to build a bridge back to this future that was envisioned some 50 years ago.  I will illustrate how the concept of metabolism, which was central to Jonas’ concept of bioethics, can be a key plank in that bridge. By understanding how energy is made available to life processes at both the organismal and ecosystem level and then recognising the ethical significance of these transformations, we can appreciate how ethical issues in human health and the environment are connected. We also come to see how food is a central topic for bioethics.