Our technological culture has an extremely dynamic character: old ways of reproducing ourselves, managing nature and keeping animals are continually replaced by new ones; norms and values with respect to our bodies, food production, health care and environmental protection are regularly being put up for discussion. This constantly confronts us with new moral problems and dilemmas. In discussion with other approaches this book argues that pragmatism, with its strong emphasis on the interaction between technology and values, gives us both procedural help and stresses the importance of living and cooperating together in tackling these problems and dilemmas. The issues in this book include the interaction of technology and ethics, the status of pragmatism, the concept of practice, and discourse ethics and deliberative democracy. It has an interactive design, with original contributions alternating with critical comments. The book is of interest for students, scholars and policymakers in the fields of bioethics, animal ethics, environmental ethics, pragmatist philosophy and science and technology studies.

Inhalt

Contributors. Acknowledgements. Introduction. Part 1: Prologue. 1. Ethics in a Technology Culture; J. Keulartz, et al. Part 2: Technology and Ethics. 2. Pragmatic Resources for Biotechnology; L.A. Hickman. 3. Philosophical Tools and Technical Solutions; H. Zwart. 4. How Pragmatic is Bioethics? M. Schermer, J. Keulartz. 5. Healthcare as a Relational Practice: A Hermeneutic-Pragmatic Perspective; G. Widdershoven, L. van der Scheer. Part 3: The Status of Pragmatism. 6. A Modest Proposal: Methodological Pragmatism for Bioethics; A. Light. 7. Methodological Pragmatism in Bioethics: A Modest Proposal? B. Gremmen. 8. Pragmatic Epistemology in the Activity of Bioethics; G. McGee. 9. Pragmatism and Pragmata; P.-P. Verbeek. Part 4: Pragmatism and Practices. 10. A Multi-Practice Ethics of Domesticated and 'Wild' Animals; M. Korthals. 11. Weak Ethics, Strong Feelings; H. Barbers. 12. Pragmatism for Medical Ethics; G. de Vries. 13. Competitiveness, Ethics and Truth; J. Vorstenbosch. 14. A Pragmatist Epistemology for Adaptive Management; B.G. Norton. 15. How Much Doubt Can a Pragmatist Bear? H. van den Belt. Part 5: Discourse Ethics and Deliberative Democracy. 16. Pragmatism, Discourse Ethics and Occasional Philosophy; P.B. Thompson. 17. Minimalism with a Vengeance; P. Pekelharing. 18. Moral Vocabularies and Public Debate; T. Swierstra. 19. Debating Pragmatism; R. de Wilde. Part 6: Epilogue. 20. Pragmatism in Action; J. Keulartz, et al.