Volume 12, Issue 1, Spring 1998
Paul M. Hughes
Pages 89-95
Exploitation, Autonomy, and the Case for Organ Sales
A recent argument in favor of a free market in human organs claims that such a market enhances personal autonomy. I argue here that such a market would, on the contrary, actually compromise the autonomy of those most likely to sell their organs, namely, the least well off members of society. A Marxian-inspired notion of exploitation is deployed to show how, and in what sense, this is the case.