Designer Biology (eBook)

The Ethics of Intensively Engineering Biological and Ecological Systems

John Basl, Ronald L. Sandler (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: EPUB

2013
302 Seiten
Lexington Books (Verlag)
978-0-7391-7822-5 (ISBN)

Infos

This book consists of thirteen chapters that address the ethical issues raised by technological intervention and design across a broad range of biological and ecological systems. Among the technologies addressed are geoengineering, human enhancement, sex selection, genetic modification, and synthetic biology.

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Advances in our scientific understanding and technological power in recent decades have dramatically amplified our capacity to intentionally manipulate complex ecological and biological systems. An implication of this is that biological and ecological problems are increasingly understood and approached from an engineering perspective. In environmental contexts, this is exemplified in the pursuits of geoengineering, designer ecosystems, and conservation cloning. In human health contexts, it is exemplified in the development of synthetic biology, bionanotechnology, and human enhancement technologies. Designer Biology: The Ethics of Intensively Engineering Biological and Ecological Systems consists of thirteen chapters (twelve of them original to the collection) that address the ethical issues raised by technological intervention and design across a broad range of biological and ecological systems. Among the technologies addressed are geoengineering, human enhancement, sex selection, genetic modification, and synthetic biology. This collection advances and enriches our understanding of the ethical issues raised by these technologies and identifies general lessons about the ethics of engineering complex biological and ecological systems that can be applied as new technologies and practices emerge. The insights that emerge will be especially valuable to students and scholars of environmental ethics, bioethics, or technology ethics.

Autor

John Basl is assistant professor of philosophy at Northeastern University and cofounder of Philosophy TV (http://philostv.com).Ronald L. Sandler is associate professor of philosophy at Northeastern University, and also director of Northeastern’s Ethics Institute. He is author of The Ethics of Species, Character and Environment, and Nanotechnology: The Social and Ethical Issues, as well as coeditor of Environmental Justice and Environmentalism and Environmental Virtue Ethics.

Inhalt

AcknowledgmentsContributor BiographiesIntroductionI. Engineering HumansChapter 1: Sex Selection and the Value-Ladenness of the Procreative Liberty Framework Chapter 2: The Ethics of Embryo SelectionChapter 3: Assessing Efficacy of “Neuroenhancing” Drugs: Normative Problems in Empirical Controversies Chapter 4: Engineering for Virtue? Toward Holistic Moral EnhancementChapter 5: Radical Enhancement and What’ Wrong with ItChapter 6: Human Engineering and Climate ChangeII. Engineering the EnvironmentChapter 7: The Human Influence: Moral Responsibility for Novel EcosystemsChapter 8: Why Scientists Should Get Out of Nature ConservationChapter 9: What it Takes to Justify Geoengineering the ClimateChapter 10: Remediation vs. Steering: An Act-Description Approach to Approving and Funding Geoengineering ResearchIII. Engineering LifeChapter 11: Sensitivity Enhancement: The Ethics of Testing Cognitive Enhancement on Non-Human Research SubjectsChapter 12: The Capacities, Interests, and Organization of Artifactual Organisms Chapter 13: How to Evolve a Good of Your Own: The Biological Interests of Instant Organisms Conclusion: Lessons for the Future

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 18.7.2013
• Co-Autor: Nicholas Agar, Immaculada de Melo Martin, Rebecca Roache, Anders Sandberg, Scott Simmons, Allen Thompson, Valentina Urbanek, David A. Frank, Benjamin Hale, Nicole Hassoun, Sune Holm, Stephen Jackson, William Kabasenche, S. Matthew Liao, Donald S. Maier
• Zusatzinfo: 8 Illustrations including: - 8 Black & White Illustrations.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Ethik
• Schlagworte: Applied Ethics • bioanotechnology • Bioethics • conservation cloning • designer ecosystems • Ecological Systems • Environmentalism • ethics • Geoengineering • human enhancement technologies • Human systems • non-human organism systems • Philosophy • philosophy of science • Philosophy of science and the environment • Synthetic biology
• ISBN-10: 0-7391-7822-9 / 0739178229
• ISBN-13: 978-0-7391-7822-5 / 9780739178225