Retracing liberalism and remaking nature: Designer children, research embryos, and featherless chickens
Bioethics 24 (4):170-178 (2010)
| Abstract | Liberal theory seeks to achieve toleration, civil peace, and mutual respect in pluralistic societies by making public policy without reference to arguments arising from within formative ideals about what gives value to human life. Does it make sense to set aside such conceptions of the good when it comes to controversies about stem cell research and the genetic engineering of people or animals? Whether it is reasonable to bracket our worldviews in such cases depends on how we answer the moral questions that the use of these biotechnologies presuppose. I argue that the moral language of liberal justice – of rights and duties, interests and opportunities, freedom and consent, equality and fairness – cannot speak to these underlying concerns about what the human embryo is, why the natural lottery matters to us, and whether 'animal nature' is worth preserving. I conclude that liberal theory is incapable of furnishing a coherent or desirable account to govern the way we use our emerging powers of biotechnology. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,705 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesGer Snik & Johan De Jong (1995). Liberalism and Denominational Schools. Journal of Moral Education 24 (4):395-407.
Daniel Holbrook (2007). All Embryos Are Equal?: Issues in Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis, IVF Implantation, Embryonic Stem Cell Research, and Therapeutic Cloning. International Journal of Applied Philosophy 21 (1):43-53.
Mark Moller (2009). Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research and the Discarded Embryo Argument. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 30 (2):131-145.
Mark Brown (2013). No Ethical Bypass of Moral Status in Stem Cell Research. Bioethics 27 (1):12-19.
Jens Clausen (2010). Stem Cells, Nuclear Transfer and Respect for Embryos. Human Reproduction and Genetic Ethics 16 (1):48-59.
David A. Jensen (2008). Abortion, Embryonic Stem Cell Research, and Waste. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 29 (1):27-41.
Carolyn Mcleod & Françoise Baylis (2007). Donating Fresh Versus Frozen Embryos to Stem Cell Research: In Whose Interests? Bioethics 21 (9):465–477.
A. -K. M. Andersson (2011). Embryonic Stem Cells and Property Rights. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 36 (3):221-242.
John A. Robertson (1999). Ethics and Policy in Embryonic Stem Cell Research. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 9 (2):109-136.
Analytics
Monthly downloads
Sorry, there are not enough data points to plot this chart.
|
Added to index2009-02-17Total downloads5 ( #160,483 of 549,198 )Recent downloads (6 months)0How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
