The availability of the body

While pursuing the analysis of the moral meaning research, which was started in the first part of this article (see Medicina e Morale 1994, 3: 491-509), the author presents here the main features of the debate on the moral justification of human experimentation, concerning with the questionnaires previously analyzed have indicated a certain confusion. The ethical-deontological tradition expressed in declarations and professional codes has interpreted the ethics of experimentation mainly in terms of the scarch for its moral limits. These limits have been indicated mainly in the respect of the fundamental rights of the subjects to their psycho-physical integrity and to the respect of their autonomy. Some critiques have been put forth against such a view from a "contractarian" perspective, in which the researcher and the subjects are considered as partners in an activity which each of them pursues for his own reasons. The analysis of this perspective permits us to reveal its adherence to some actual dynamics of the relationship but also its limits concerning the ability to judge the goals of the research. lf the "rights" perspective sometimes reflects a "legalistic" approach, the contractarian view too casily forgets the necessity to judge the contents of the contract (i.e. what is going to be done). Therefore, it is suggested that a "solidaristic" perspective would seem in a better position in order to provide more balanced grounds for evaluation. The problem of the payment to healthy volunteers as an inducement to solidarity is taken as an example of the respective positions, where an ethic of solidarity refuses unduly high inducements which alienate the ethical meaning of research.