Abstract
In this paper, I address myself to the issues at hand. Firstly, I review both the general trends and the essential characteristics of ethical situations in this technological era. Issues are categorized according to "ethical vacuum", "collective, synergistic and cumulative acting", or "fallacy of misplaced abstractness". Secondly, I consider Hans Lenk's theory. He tells us that "mens deficiens humanitatis" emerges in a society where a socio-technological system and market economy dominate; and that co-responsibility is necessary for the survival and progress of humankind in our complex technological world. This means that morality must be concerned with the well-being of other men and creatures. According to Lenk the upshot of this, in terms of moral responsibility, might be formulated as "In dubio pro humanitas concreta". In the third part of the paper, I address the following question: Is it not ethical to allow destruction of a few embryos in order to obtain their stem cells for "therapeutic" cloning research? The issue is complicated by a series of related questions. When does a particular human life begin? In addition, do embryos have human dignity? There appear to be two main approaches to defending conferred moral standing; namely, the NIP-argument (an indirect argument), and Tutiorism, or "Vorsichtsargument" (a meta-argument). Tutiorism holds that, in case of doubt, one is acting with responsibility when the safer course is followed. Based on this argument I conclude: In dubio pro embryone.
