PHIL 2600 Discussion 7

PHIL 2600 Discussion 7 | Tulane University

9/28 discussion board

The U.S. is currently suffering from a severe kidney shortage. More than 4,000 people on kidney transplant waiting lists die each year from kidney failure. Currently, there are over 100,000 people who are in need of a kidney, yet last year there were only around 17,000 transplant surgeries performed. The average weight time for a kidney transplant is five years, and many people on the wait lists end up too sick to ever receive a transplant.¹ Furthermore, dialysis is expensive, painful, and only palliative.  

One solution to this problem is to create a market for kidneys. However, in both Europe and the U.S., although one is allowed to donate a kidney, it is against the law to sell a kidney (Roth 45). Many persons and organizations, e.g. the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and WHO, are against the commodification of kidneys (50). There are an impressive number of putatively moral objections that could be raised against such a market. Roth considers several objections, e.g., that the practice is: objectifying, coercive, and involves a slippery slope (45-48). However, these worries might be mitigated via market regulation. Despite this, most people still think that the selling of kidneys is wrong perhaps because they find the idea of selling one’s kidney repugnant.  

1 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/02/opinion/ways-to-reduce-the-kidney-shortage.html (Links to an external site.) 

-Please make (at least) one post. Reply posts should be in a colorful font.  

-This discussion board closes on 9/28 at 10am.  

1) Explain the objectification objection to the commodification of kidneys (45-46). How might a pro-kidney-market theorist respond to this objection (49)? Do you think that the objectification objection is strong enough to make the buying or selling of kidneys illegal?   

2) Explain the coercion objection to the commodification of kidneys (46-47). How might a pro-kidney-market theorist respond to this objection (49)? Do you think that the coercion objection is strong enough to make the buying or selling of kidneys illegal? 

3) Explain the slippery slope objection to the commodification of kidneys (47-48). How might a pro-kidney-market theorist respond to this objection (49)? Do you think that the slippery slope objection is strong enough to make the buying or selling of kidneys illegal?  

Jesse