The Inorganic Relationship: A Confucian Justification for Organ Trading

Voo Teck Chuan

Center for Biomedical Ethics

National University of Singapore

A key argument against organ trading is the potential detrimental effect on the qualities of social relationships. Its persuasive force is largely drawn from Richard Titmuss’s analysis of the “Gift Relationship” as applied in the context of blood donation. Briefly, Titmuss contends that blood given as a gratuitous gift of life will avoid the exploitation of the poor and help foster social solidarity.

In this paper, I first spell out the specifics of Titmuss’s analysis and show why it may not be applicable to the organ donation context. Given the increasing pressure in Asian (and of course Western) countries for legalizing a market in organ, I shall then consider whether a Confucian socio-ethical perspective—in particular, the relational concept of “reciprocity”—can provide support for some forms of organ trading. I conclude by outlining the social and personal disvalue that may be produced from subscribing to such a perspective.