Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and the Problem of Contemporary Medical Ethics

In the last decades we have witnessed an explosion of research and knowledge in the field of bioethics. Jewish authorities have responded to the challenge of startling scientific and technological breakthroughs in the medical sciences to produce an authentic Jewish response to these developments. However, the methodology of casuistry, traditionally used in Jewish jurisprudence, has proven inadequate for many dilemmas in modern bioethics. Reproductive cloning, surrogate motherhood, and end of life care present a slew of problems unimaginable to previous decisors. The works of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, one of the preeminent Jewish religious philosophers of the last 50 years, might be relevant for addressing these contemporary moral quandaries.