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The Contingent Nature of Life

Bioethics and the Limits of Human Existence

  • Book
  • © 2008

Overview

Editors:
  1. Marcus Düwell

    1. Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands

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  2. Christoph Rehmann-Sutter

    1. Universität Basel, Switzerland

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  3. Dietmar Mieth

    1. Universität Tübingen, Germany

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  • Examines the basic ethical notions such as desire, needs and rights in a substantial philosophical manner and elaborates the relevance of these notions to recent bioethical discussions
  • Studies the relationships between the ‘contingency’ of life and the current developments in the life sciences
  • Discusses the impact of the life sciences on disabilities in a broader philosophical perspective
  • Studies the intercultural dimension of bioethics in a philosophical perspective

Part of the book series: International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine (LIME, volume 39)

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Table of contents (28 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages I-4
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  2. Contingency of Life and the Ethical

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 5-5
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    2. The Value of Natural Contingency

      • Ludwig Siep
      Pages 7-15

    3. Between Natural Necessity and Ethical Contingency

      • Ahmet Hadi Adanali
      Pages 17-24

    4. Of Poststructuralist Ethics and Nomadic Subjects

      • Rosi Braidotti
      Pages 25-36

    5. Genetics, a Practical Anthropology

      • Christoph Rehmann-Sutter
      Pages 37-52

    6. Science, Religion, and Contingency

      • Dietmar Mieth
      Pages 53-67

  3. Ethical Theories and the Limits of Life Sciences

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 69-69
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    2. Bioethics and the Normative Concept of Human Selfhood

      • Ludger Honnefelder
      Pages 71-82

    3. Human Cognitive Vulnerability and the Moral Status of the Human Embryo and Foetus

      • Deryck Beyleveld
      Pages 83-88

    4. Needs and the Metaphysics of Rights

      • Bernard Baertschi
      Pages 89-96

    5. The Authority of Desire in Medicine

      • Matthias Kettner
      Pages 97-108

    6. Procreative Needs and Rights

      • Norbert Campagna
      Pages 109-117

    7. Needs, Capacities and Morality

      • Marcus Düwell
      Pages 119-130

    8. Moral Judgement and Moral Reasoning

      • Albert W. Musschenga
      Pages 131-146

    9. Philosophical Reflection on Bioethics and Limits

      • Theo van Willigenburg
      Pages 147-156

  4. Cases of Limits

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 157-157
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    2. Finite Lives and Unlimited Medical Aspirations

      • Daniel Callahan
      Pages 159-167

    3. Reproductive Choice: Whose Rights? Whose Freedom?

      • Brenda Almond
      Pages 169-182

    4. Assisted Reproduction and the Changing of the Human Body

      • Maurizio Mori
      Pages 183-189
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Keywords

About this book

The development of bioethics has presented us with an ever increasing number of very different discussions over the last four decades. Bioethicists were initially c- cerned about questions of reproduction, end of life, organ transplantation, and a broad range of moral problems raised by the forward march of the life sciences. Meanwhile these sciences grew to be a major in?uence in nearly all areas of our lives. Biotechnology has brought about considerable changes in agriculture, plant breeding, pharmacy, veterinary medicine and medicine in general. These scienti?c and technological changes in turn are having a profound in?uence on economy, law, politics and culture. The life sciences are now certain to change our world in important ways. Because of their potentially all-pervasive and highly diverse impact, bioethical discussions concerning the life sciences are no longer simply about ethical gui- lines or legal regulation of concrete technologies. Certainly, the on-going debates concerning rules and regulations are complicated – and becoming more so. Nev- theless, bioethics cannot be restricted to these topics – they cover but a fraction of the social and personal consequences of bio-technological change. The life sciences drive us to rethink long-time-honoured concepts of humanness, of personhood, of nature. Bioethics therefore needs to develop an understanding of the impact those changes have on the conceptualization of the ethical dimension of the life sciences.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Marcus Düwell

  • Universität Basel, Switzerland

    Christoph Rehmann-Sutter

  • Universität Tübingen, Germany

    Dietmar Mieth

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