Many bioethical arguments rely implicitly on the assumption that the concept of “human part” is one on which everyone must agree, because it is unambiguous. But various parties interpret this “unambiguous” term in incompatible ways, leading to contention. This article is an informal presentation of a topomereological system on whose preferred interpretation several distinct but related meanings of “human part” can be isolated: part of a human body, part of the completion of a human body, and part of a human (...) being. A case is analyzed (the first total artificial heart (TAH) implantation), demonstrating in the process much of the apparatus of the system. By means of a casuistic methodology, the analysis is translated into recommendations for the ethical conduct of future TAH research. The more general conclusion, however, is that formal methods may provide useful tools for clarifying thought processes and organizing arguments in debates over bioethical issues. (shrink)

Mahāyāna Buddhism is the major branch of Buddhism practiced in India, China, and East Asia. A signal characteristic of this form of Buddhism is its advocacy of the “doctrine of expedient means.” This doctrine, which makes its first official appearance in the third century of the Common Era in the Lotus Sūtra (hereafter “the Sūtra”), is supposed to account for the fact that Mahāyāna Buddhism expresses views about the nature of reality and the goals of Buddhist practice that are not (...) reflected in earlier scriptures. In its famous “Parable of the Burning House,” the Sūtra argues for the view that the earlier teachings were not aligned with the final truth; their limitations were required by natural and unavoidable .. (shrink)