From an ethical viewpoint is that Body exhibit show right or wrong?

Question

I have heard so many different so called truths on the matter but, my class is scheduled to go see this for medical education but I just wanted to know if by going I would be justifying these exhibits.God bless everyone.

Answer 1

It might help to know that there are TWO different plasticized body exhibits in wide circulation. "Body Worlds" claims to use bodies that have been very specifically donated to science, in some cases to that specific exhibit. "BODIES... The Exhibition" uses unclaimed bodies from the morgue (presumably many were political prisoners ).

I certainly don't feel the plasticizing of a body is wrong. I know for me, I think it would be awesome to have my body on display for learning purposes after i die! So much of my life has been about teaching science and technology, it only seems fitting i should continue that well into my death :-)

I do think it is unethical to put a body on display like this without some kind of permission from the person who once lived in it. While they might be dead and gone, it seems comforting to those of us still living to assume we will have some basic control over our and our loved ones' most intimate space (our body) upon our death. The handling of bodies in an appropriate ways is very dear to many of people's core religious and spiritual beliefs. A healthy society would respect these choices.

Answer 2

I think the purpose is basically educational. I don't see ny exploitation. If only one person who attends, decides to work in the medical field and help others, some good has been accomplished.  

Answer 3

I don't think it's any different than using cadavers in the medical schools, except it's teaching a much larger audience about anatomy.

Answer 4

They are just bodies. If you are a dualist, which I assume your are, then the soul/spirit/whatever is not there.  It's just a shell that the owner consented (before death, obviously) to let science use to further education.  There is nothing morally wrong with the exibit. Going does not justify it either; your going to learn about the body and exibit itself. This does not condone anything. I learned about Eugenics when I was in school, but that does not mean I find it acceptable.

Answer 5

Leo, are you from Pittsburgh?  I am in Philly!

Answer 6

They are just the dead who gave permission to use them to educate. In this, it is ethical because you are fulfilling the desire of a person to help their fellow man.  

Answer 7

If it weren't for Leonardo da Vinci who robbed graves, which was illegal of course, it might have been another century before we knew anything more about human anatomy. His sketches of human tissue, veins, arteries, etc. helped medicine make a great leap forward. Back to your own question. At first, I thought the idea was gross, but I've come to believe that everyday, ordinary people like myself can gain knowledge from such an exhibit.