Global Law and National Law in Life Science and Technology: Selected Insights and Perspectives

The essay briefly addresses dynamics emerging at the crossroads between legal phenomenon and life sciences. In particular, will be explored: the increasing “multilevel” and “transnational” dimension of the law applied to the questions posed by the biosciences; the evolution of the elements used to qualify the juristic personhood as a result of bioengineering in intervening at the beginning and at the end of human life and in creating synthetic organisms; the rethinking of the fundamental values (in Europe and in the U.S.) of autonomy, dignity, and pursuit of happiness facing the powerful capabilities provided by life-sciences in a “disenchanted world” where both the pluralism of moral thoughts flourished and the individualism in respect of one’s life-choices bloomed. Finally, a reference will be made also to the “social dimension” of the autonomous health choices: a perspective once tarnished but now rediscovered as the consequence of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.