Whose view of life? : embryos, cloning, and stem cells / Jane Maienschein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Maienschein, Jane.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human embryo--Research--Political aspects--United States.

Human embryo.

Stem cells--Research--Political aspects--United States.

Stem cells.

Human cloning--Research--Political aspects--United States.

Human cloning.

Human cloning--Research.

Stem cells--Research.

Human embryo--Research.

United States.

Physical Description:

xiii, 342 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2003.

Summary:

Saving lives versus taking lives: the public regards human embryo research in these stark terms -- as a battleground of extremes, a war between science and ethics. Precisely that simplistic dichotomy, propagated by vociferous opponents of abortion and proponents of medical research, is what Jane Maienschein seeks to counter with this book. Whose View of Life? brings the current debates into sharper focus by examining developments in stem cell research, cloning, and embryology in historical and philosophical context and by exploring the legal, social, and ethical issues at the heart of what has become a political controversy. Drawing on her experience as a researcher, teacher, and congressional fellow, Maienschein's analysis serves as an aid to understanding the scientific and social forces that got us to where we are today. For example, she explains the long-established traditions behind conflicting views of how life begins -- at conception or gradually, in the course of development. She prepares us to engage a major question of our day: How can we, as a twenty-first-century democratic society, negotiate a course that allows us to be at the same time respectful of the competing views of life, confident in the strongest possible basis in scientific knowledge, and still able to respond to the momentous opportunities and challenges presented to us by modern biology? Maienschein's multidisciplinary perspective will provide a starting point for further attempts to answer this question.

Contents:

1. From the Beginning 13

2. Interpreting Embryos, Understanding Life 49

3. Genetics, Embryology, and Cloning Frogs 88

4. Recombinant DNA, IVF, and Abortion Politics 125

5. From Genetics to Genomania 169

6. Facts and Fantasies of Cloning 212

7. Hopes and Hypes for Stem Cells 249.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [307]-328) and index.

ISBN:

0674011708

OCLC:

52341708