© 2015 V.N. Zasukhina
2015 – №1 (9)
Abstract: The paper analyzes the concept of orthobiosis, developed by Russian scientist and thinker I.I. Mechnikov, which includes the problems of life, health, aging, death, etc. According to the author, the following notions are crucial for understanding this concept: instinct of natural death, life instinct, full-fledged life, fear of death, satiety by life. The main conclusion of this research is that the orthobiosis concept can be regarded as standing at the origins of Russian bioethics.
Key words: bioethics, orthobiosis, life, health, aging, old age, death, instinct of natural death, life instinct, full-fledged life, fear of death, satiation by life.
References:
Mechnikov, I.I. (1914) Sorok let iskanii ratsional’nogo mirovozzreniia [Forty years of searching for a rational worldview], Moscow: Nauchnoe slovo.
Mechnikov, I.I. (1961) Etiudy o prirode cheloveka [Etudes about the nature of man], Moscow: Izd-vo Akademii nauk SSSR.
Mechnikov, I.I. (1988) Etiudy optimizma [Studies of optimism], Moscow: Glavnaia redaktsiia literatury na inostrannykh iazykakh. Izd-vo «Nauka».