The rapid pace of change and the seemingly infinite potential of progress tempt one to view commonly accepted, fundamental features of human finitude as one more problem potentially solvable by the advances of medical knowledge and technology. The ultimate, irremediable medical problem—death—is the focus of
a plan by Italian neuroscientist, Dr. Sergio Canavero, and Chinese surgeon, Dr. Xiaoping Ren, to pursue the first human head transplant (or whole body transplant). The procedure, however, raises profound questions pertaining to personal identity, ethics, and the quest for immortality through technology.
In this panel presentation composed of a physician, philosophers, and bioethicists, the speakers set aside the difficult technical questions surrounding such a radical operation, as well as the obvious research ethics issues, and instead examine important philosophical questions regarding the implications of a “successful” transplant.
One presenter will query the phenomenology of personhood for a patient who undergoes such a procedure, which informs the moral assessment of head transplantation. A second presenter will outline a spectrum of philosophical views on personal identity, ranging from substance dualism to reductive materialism and examine how each view might address the fundamental question of what, if any, continuity in personal identity exists between the patient pre- and post-transplant. Finally, a third presenter will examine the extraordinary end envisioned by Dr. Canavero if human head transplantation can be coupled with human cloning—namely, immortality. The presenter will examine this goal exploring whether, why, and under what conditions immortality would be a good.
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