Frontiers of anthropological research: ethics, autonomy, and trafficking in human organs. A commentary on The Global Traffic in Human Organs, by Nancy Scheper-Hughes

Abstract

The bioethical debate over the commercialization of the human body has intensified in recent years. This article discusses the principles of ethics and autonomy in the most important ethnography on international traffic in human organs, coordinated by anthropologist Nancy Scheper-Hughes. The author discusses how defending the ethics of non-commercialization of the human body entails absolute ethical principles pertaining to human life, a political premise whose legitimacy is not recognized by relativist anthropologists.