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kyk

Should there be a market for organs?

Ignoring for a second that it's politically unpalatable, should we be able to buy and sell our organs?

There was an interesting article by Dubner and Levitt, both of Freakonomics fame in the NYT.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/magazine/09wwln_freak.html?ex=1310097600en=a9dde90f918e52cbei=5088partner=rssnytemc=rss

A very complex issue, with a number of facets to consider. There are probably also hundreds of non-negligible scenarios as well. But the important question is whether it would do more good than harm or more harm than good.

I feel like it has a significant upside that people dismiss without considering fully. Perhaps individuals in our society have some sort of training to be averse to implementing extremely free-market principles to such grave matters.

Published Wednesday, September 05, 2007 8:34 PM by kyk
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Comments

 

Urban Flaneur said:

I think this issue boils down to political morality than market-economy.  Of course, there's a market for almost every commodity in our society, including drugs but when do we make an ethical stance over supply and demand?

October 1, 2007 12:41 PM
 

kyk said:

Absolutely. What is efficient is not at all the same as what is equitable or moral.

But, I think it's far too often a knee-jerk reaction that people conceptualize problems of this sort as falling into that realm of the tug of war between morality and efficiency. But I don't think it's that straightforward at all.

Depends on what you're view of what social justice is (and there are tomes of information and approaches out there offering different conceptions of it). But what if your view accorded well with, or implied that an individual's right to life (in the literal sense, not in the abortion theme-loaded sense), was the most sacred right that social institutions should protect? Then one could argue that the "most just" thing institutions could do is help develop mechanisms to simply save the most lives. That is, regardless of social class, creed, gender, etc. And a market for organs is probably the best way to maximize the number of lives saved.

I'm not necessarily arguing that this is my personal feel about social justice, but I'm saying that it's a compelling point that can't be dismissed so easily.

October 1, 2007 1:46 PM
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About kyk

"There is a level of cowardice lower than that of the conformist: the fashionable non-conformist." - Ayn Rand