Depth Ethics and the Oblique Perspective

Abstract

Transplantation medicine profoundly affects experiences of embodiment, notably through the commodification of body parts. There is an intrusive, dehumanising dimension to organ procurement which tends to be obfuscated by a moral discourse shrouded in denial. Yet, what is concealed (repressed) on the manifest level of discourse is bound to resurge in organ transplant cinema. The idea that commodification will solve the problem of organ scarcity by emptying the waiting lists is illusory. Although overcoming organ scarcity has become a mantra in the current debate, it eclipses the extent to which organ demand is actually constantly produced by transplantation medicine itself.