Bioethics and the Hypothesis of Extended Health

Morar, Nicolae; Skorburg, Joshua August

doi:10.1353/ken.2018.0020

Cited by 16 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 135 publications

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“…For example, in the ecological view, treating symptoms of IBD is not only by educating the immune system, but it is also the understanding that the bacterial communities should be ‘educated’ as well (e.g., MFT is a form of community ‘education’). 13 This perspective also supports the view of extended health which connects medical practices with the individual’s close and immediate surroundings (Morar & Skorburg, 2018 ).…”

Section: Possible Objectionsmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…In my response to these objections, I show some black boxes regarding the individualist view, of the self-environment distinction, the definition of infections, and autoimmune diseases. Furthermore, I argue that the view of the host-ecosystem and the holobiont self is in line with the general motivation of views such as one health (Zinsstag et al, 2011 ), population health (Valles, 2018 ), and extended health (Morar & Skorburg, 2018 ), which promote the understanding of the role of the ecological, social, cultural, and political context in the individual’s health. The functional explanation of immunity I present here looks at the immunity of the host ecosystem and can contribute to some of the challenges raised regarding these views by looking at the causal explanations for physiological conditions from an ecological perspective of the interactions and feedback loops in differed contextual cycles.…”

Section: Possible Objectionsmentioning

confidence: 65%

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The holobiont self: understanding immunity in context

Schneider

2021

HPLS

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Both concepts of the holobiont and the immune system are at the heart of an ongoing scientific and philosophical examination concerning questions of the organism’s individuality and identity as well as the relations between organisms and their environment. Examining the holobiont, the question of boundaries and individuality is challenging because it is both an assemblage of organisms with physiological cohesive aspects. I discuss the concept of immunity and the immune system function from the holobiont perspective. Because of the host-microbial close relations of codependence and interdependence, the holobiont is more often than not confused with the host, as the host is the domain in which this entity exists. I discuss the holobiont unique ecological characteristics of microbial assemblages connected to a host in a network of interactions in which the host is one of the organisms in the community but also its landscape. Therefore, I suggest viewing the holobiont as a host-ecosystem and discuss the implication of such a view on the concept of immunity and the meaning of protection. Furthermore, I show that viewing the holobiont as a host ecosystem opens the possibility of using the same ecological definition of boundaries and immunity dealing with an ecological system. Thus, the holobiont’s boundaries and immunity are defined by the persistence of its complex system of interactions integrating existing and new interactions. This way of thinking presents a notion of immunity that materializes as the result of the complex interdependence relations between the different organisms composing the holobiont similar to that of an ecosystem. Taking this view further, I discuss the notion of immunogenicity that is ontologically heterogeneous with various causal explanations of the processes of tolerance and targeted immune response. Finally, I discuss the possible conceptualization of already existing and new biomedical practices.

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Section: Possible Objectionsmentioning

confidence: 61%

Section: Possible Objectionsmentioning

confidence: 65%

The holobiont self: understanding immunity in context

Schneider

2021

HPLS

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“…More importantly, these studies bring to light the epistemic limits of the easy but misleading dichotomy between individual versus environment. From a microbial perspective, individuality is not cast solely in terms of inherited human genetics, but it also entails that parts of our most immediate biological environment can be so intimately connected to our bodies as to be become part and parcel of our basic physiological functioning (Morar and Skorburg 2018).…”

Section: Probiotics and Obesity: A Possible Way Forward?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the account we are advancing, aspects of individual choice (such as food decisions and exercise) can be acknowledged while still granting a profound level of environmental influence (from microbes and relationship partners) that does not necessarily extend into notoriously unwieldy (but no less important) territory of social, economic, and political structures (Morar and Skorburg 2018).…”

Section: Finding a Middle Ground?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Why We Never Eat Alone: The Overlooked Role of Microbes and Partners in Obesity Debates in Bioethics

Morar

Skorburg

2020

Bioethical Inquiry

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Debates about obesity in bioethics tend to unfold in predictable epicycles between individual choices and behaviours (e.g., restraint, diet, exercise) and the oppressive socioeconomic structures constraining them (e.g., food deserts, advertising). Here, we argue that recent work from two cutting-edge research programmes in microbiology and social psychology can advance this conceptual stalemate in the literature. We begin in section 1 by discussing two promising lines of obesity research involving the human microbiome and relationship partners. Then, in section 2, we show how this research has made viable novel strategies for fighting obesity, including microbial therapies and dyad-level interventions. Finally, in section 3, we consider objections to our account and conclude by arguing that attention to the most immediate features of our biological and social environment offers a middle ground solution, while also raising important new issues for bioethicists.

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“…Therefore, the microbial community in our gut is not just a part of our environment, as previously thought, but an essential part of our health. Philosophers of medicine have argued that we should thus break from tradition and extend our concept of health to cover these ‘dynamic functional units’ (Morar and Skorburg, 2018).…”

Section: Three Different Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health, ecology and the microbiome

Inkpen

2019

eLife

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Advances in microbiomics have changed the way in which many researchers think about health and disease. These changes have also raised a number of philosophical questions around these topics, such as the types of living systems to which these concepts can be applied. Here, I discuss the human microbiome from two perspectives: the first treats the microbiome as part of a larger system that includes the human; the second treats the microbiome as an independent ecosystem that provides services to humans. Drawing on the philosophy of medicine and ecology, I explore two questions: i) how can we make sense of disease and dysfunction in these two perspectives? ii) are these two perspectives complimentary or do they compete with each other?

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Bioethics and the Hypothesis of Extended Health

Cited by 16 publications

References 135 publications

The holobiont self: understanding immunity in context

The holobiont self: understanding immunity in context

Why We Never Eat Alone: The Overlooked Role of Microbes and Partners in Obesity Debates in Bioethics

Health, ecology and the microbiome

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