The Impact of the Logical and Textual Approaches to Religion on Bioethics

Application of modern medical and bio sciences and also that of modern biotechnologies to human life, during the last decades, have left impact on and indeed changed traditional religious and moral attitudes. Use of such sciences and technologies has given rise to unprecedented moral and religious discussions which could not be justified and fruitful without taking into consideration of foundations of moral judgments. This is more significant in Islamic societies in which religion plays a considerable role in formation of moral beliefs and legal rules. The method of this research is philosophical. The material is collected from published works such as books, articles and research reports in libraries or on the web. We have endeavoured to analyze the concepts of religion and morality and deal with the idea of the paper on the basis of a comparison between the Western and Islamic philosophies. Having taken into account recent biotechnological developments and normative problems arising from them, this paper attempts to study the relationship between religious and moral approaches and these problems, and evaluate various types of religious and moral theorizing on the bioethical problems. Moreover, upon discussing and evaluating (religious) theological and textual approaches to bioethics, it is ventured to put forth a justifiable religious approach to bioethical problems. Current religious moral injunctions on bioethical issues can be approached and evaluated in parallel with the secular ones. However, rational justification of the religious injunctions occurs at the level of moral theory and meta-ethics (moral philosophy). Jurisprudential rulings on bioethical issues may be issued on the basis of morality and justice. In this case, they would be both ethical and just and also backed by religious teachings.