Bioethics: a philosophical basis for moral decisions.

I would like to address myself not to a specific moral problem caused by the proliferation of scientific knowledge and technological advances in our culture, but to the underlying philosophical basis for the plethora of moral dilemmas we are witnessing. In essence, I am saying that the ecological and psycho-social problems of today cannot be ameliorated by recycling pop bottles or training more psychiatrists. We must attack the cause not the symptoms. The cause, I propose, resides in our head in the form of a bankrupt philosophy of human nature. Moreover, I make the assumption, as others have that each individual holds a view of human nature which shapes policies and practices of human intervention which, in turn, influence biological and psycho-social development.