Lisa Bellantoni argues that contemporary bioethics divides into two logically incommensurable positions: a cult of rights, which identifies the worth of human life with our autonomy, and a cult of life, which identifies human worth with the possession of a soul, and thereby, of human dignity.

LISA BELLANTONI is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Albright College, USA. Her research focuses on bioethics, neuroethics and emerging technologies. Her first book, Moral Progress, examined how societies advance morally. Her current work focuses on the use of technology to make society not only materially but morally better.