Much recent work on the ethics of new biomedical technologies is committed to hidden, contestable views about the nature of biological reality. This selection of essays by Tim Lewens explores and scrutinises these biological foundations, and includes work on human enhancement, synthetic biology, and justice in healthcare decision-making.
Tim Lewens is Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, where he is also a Fellow of Clare College. His past publications include Organisms and Artifacts: Design in Nature and Elsewhere (MIT Press, 2004), and Darwin (Routledge, 2007). He is also a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and runs the ERC-funded project 'A Science of Human Nature? Philosophical Disputes at the Interface of Natural and Social Sciences'.
Much recent work on the ethics of new biomedical technologies is committed to hidden, contestable views about the nature of biological reality. This selection of essays by Tim Lewens explores and scrutinises these biological foundations, and includes work on human enhancement, synthetic biology, and justice in healthcare decision-making.
Tim Lewens is Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, where he is also a Fellow of Clare College. His past publications include Organisms and Artifacts: Design in Nature and Elsewhere (MIT Press, 2004), and Darwin (Routledge, 2007). He is also a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and runs the ERC-funded project 'A Science of Human Nature? Philosophical Disputes at the Interface of Natural and Social Sciences'.
1: Introduction: The Biological Foundations of Bioethics
Part One: Bettering Nature
2: Enhancement and Human Nature: The Case of Sandel
3: The Risks of Progress: Precaution and the Case of Human
Enhancement
4: Human Nature: The Very Idea
5: From Bricolage to Biobricks (TM): Synthetic Biology and Rational
Design
6: Origins, Parents, and Non-Identity
Part Two: Biology in Ethics and Political Philosophy
7: Development Aid: On Ontogeny and Ethics
8: Prospects for Evolutionary Policy
9: What are Natural Inequalities?
10: Foot Note
11: Health, Naturalism, and Policy
References
Index
Tim Lewens is Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, where he is also a Fellow of Clare College. His past publications include Organisms and Artifacts: Design in Nature and Elsewhere (MIT Press, 2004), and Darwin (Routledge, 2007). He is also a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and runs the ERC-funded project 'A Science of Human Nature? Philosophical Disputes at the Interface of Natural and Social Sciences'.
Those who wonder if their characterizations of human nature are
scientifically sound will want to review the many cautions
presented in this book. Tim Lewens's aim is to apply standard
concepts from the philosophy of biology to inform issues in
bioethics. But his incisive analyses of appeals to what is natural
have broader relevance.
*Douglas Allchin, Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture*
The book is free of bias and provides ample current citations. A
good book for public policy and bioethics collections ... Highly
recommended.
*Choice*
Lewens' book will reward close study. The essays in the book are
tightly reasoned, and many of the deflationary conclusions he draws
deserve serious attention by those wishing to engage in theory
construction in this locale. In addition, the book can serve as a
good introduction, albeit a challenging one, to many of the
important issues in bioethics.
*David Lambie, Metascience*
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