The biological foundations of bioethics / Tim Lewens.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lewens, Tim, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bioethics.

Biology--Philosophy.

Biology.

Science--Philosophy.

Science.

Medical ethics.

Bioethical Issues.

Biological Phenomena.

Ethics, Medical.

Medical Subjects:

Bioethical Issues.

Biological Phenomena.

Ethics, Medical.

Bioethics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (222 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Much work in bioethics, and also work in mainstream ethics and in political philosophy, is committed to substantive positions regarding the interpretation of biology. Sometimes these commitments are quite obvious, as when ethicists rely on robust notions of species natures to ground their views of enhancement. At other times ethicists espouse more covert positions regarding (for example) proper biological development, ‘species design’, the alleged distinction between the natural and the social, the nature of evolutionary processes, or the causal pre-eminence of genes. This book examines a series of bioethical debates concerning human enhancement, synthetic biology, the ethical significance of species natures, the moral import of evolutionary history, genes and justice, and reproductive ethics, and offer a critical assessment of their biological foundations. It shows how the philosophy of science, and more specifically the philosophy of biology, can illuminate bioethics, political philosophy and ethics more generally.

Contents:

Cover; The Biological Foundations of Bioethics; Copyright; Dedication; Acknowledgements; Texts and Permissions; Contents; 1. Introduction: The Biological Foundations of Bioethics; 1.1 Bioethics and the Philosophy of Biology; 1.2 Overview; 1.3 Three Commitments; PART I: Bettering Nature; 2. Enhancement and Human Nature: The Case of Sandel; 2.1 The Nature of Enhancement; 2.2 The Ghost of Eugenics; 2.3 The Varieties of Enhancement; 2.4 Sandel on Enhancement; 2.5 Revisiting the Unbidden; 2.6 Procrustean Parenting; 3. The Risks of Progress: Precaution and the Case of Human Enhancement

3.1 Introducing Human Enhancement3.2 Enhancement and Risk; 3.3 Harris on Enhancement; 3.4 From 'Yuck' to 'Wow', and Back Again; 3.5 Precaution; 3.6 Conclusion: From Here to Utopia; 4. Human Nature: The Very Idea; 4.1 Improving Unicorns?; 4.2 The Biological Consensus; 4.3 Permissive Natures; 4.4 Neo-Aristotelianism; 4.5 'Our Given Nature'; 4.6 Beware of 'Human Nature'; 5. From Bricolage to BioBricksTM: Synthetic Biology and Rational Design; 5.1 Engineering Nature; 5.2 Designing Nature; 5.3 Creativity and Bricolage; 5.4 Evolutionary Electronics; 5.5 Rational Design and Evolutionary Design

6. Origins, Parents, and Non-identity6.1 Origin Essentialism; 6.2 Focusing the Debate; 6.3 Gamete Essentialism; 6.4 Parental Essentialism; 6.5 Informational Genes; 6.6 Bioethical Consequences; PART II: Biology in Ethics and Political Philosophy; 7. Development Aid: On Ontogeny and Ethics; 7.1 Introduction; 7.2 Genes, Development, and Genetic Exceptionalism; 7.3 Some Objections Rebutted; 7.3.1 Genes cannot be altered, other developmental resources can. Only controllable resources can fall within the scope of distributive justice

7.3.2 Our genes dictate our identity, other developmental resources do not7.3.3 Genes are given by nature; other resources are under social control; 7.3.4 Genes are inherited across generations; other developmental resources are not; 7.4 Tempering Genetic Engineering; 7.4.1 Genes may be a poor place to intervene; 7.4.2 Genetic engineering may be used to bias in favour of certain functional modes; 7.4.3 Genetic engineering may violate bodily integrity; 7.5 Exceptionalism by Degree; 7.6 Conclusions: On Engineering and Eugenics; 8. Prospects for Evolutionary Policy; 8.1 Evolutionary Policy

8.2 Limiting Ambition8.3 The Darwinian Left; 8.4 Finding Patterns and Mechanisms; 8.5 Case Study: Child Abuse; 8.6 Case Study: Rap; 8.7 A Last Word on the Darwin Wars; 9. What Are 'NaturalInequalities'?; 9.1 The Natural and the Social; 9.2 Natural and Social Inequalities; 9.3 A First Failed Way to Draw the Distinction; 9.4 ANOVA Effort to Distinguish Nature from Society; 9.5 Control: A Misleading Way to Draw the Distinction; 9.6 Control: A Grain-of-Analysis Problem; 9.7 Innateness; 9.8 Nagel on Nature; 10. Foot Note; 10.1 Foot on Natural Goodness; 10.2 A Biological Objection to Foot

10.3 Potential Responses

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-19-106198-0

0-19-178100-2

0-19-102127-X

OCLC:

897810315