Emerging Conceptual, Ethical and Policy Issues in Bionanotechnology

This volume provides a critical overview of the nature of nanotechnology and its applications in the biomedical sciences, as well as the philosophical and ethico-legal issues it raises. The articles are an exploration by scholars from various disciplines.

Nanobiotechnology is the convergence of existing and new biotechnology with the 1 ability to manipulate matter at or near the molecular level. This ability to manipulate matter on a scale of 100 nanometers (nm) or less is what constitutes the nanotechnology revolution occurring today, the potentially vast economic and social implications of which are yet to be fully understood (Royal Society, 2004). The most immediate way to understand the implications of nanobiotechnology for ethics is to consider the real life concerns of communities that are mobilizing within civil society. The conflicts and ethical debates surrounding nanotechnology will, almost by definition, emerge on the fault lines between different civil society actors, researchers and financial interests associated with nanobiotechnology, as well as (potentially) government regulators. These fault lines are all reflected within the concerns (as expressed d- cursively) of the communities mobilizing. This chapter will explore converging d- courses regarding converging technologies. Converging Technologies (CT) are already a familiar theme in the next gene- tion of biotechnology, nanotechnology, pharmacogenomics and proteomics research 2 and development. Nanobiotechnology means that previously separate disciplines (IT, physics, chemistry, and biology) are merging and converging to create new applications and even new life forms through converged technological platforms. Schummer (2004), and Glimell and Fogelberg (2003, p. 43), note the predominance of interdisciplinarity as a core theme of nano-discourse.

The first volume to focus on the ethical and social issues emerging in nanotechnology Incorporates international perspectives on a topic of global importance Includes assessments from a variety of disciplines, including philosophy, anthropology, social sciences, law, psychology, and sciences

Klappentext

This volume provides a critical overview of the nature of nanotechnology (and its applications in the biomedical sciences, i.e. bionanotechnology) and the philosophical and ethico-legal issues it raises. This collection of thirteen articles represents an exploration by scholars from various disciplines (philosophy, anthropology, law, social sciences, psychology, and natural sciences) in North America and Europe. The book contains four major parts respectively entitled 1) Knowledge Production in Nanotechnoscience; 2) Ethics and (Bio)Nanotechnology; 3) Public Policy and (Bio)Nanotechnology; and 4) Human Enhancement and (Bio)Nanotechnology. In the first section, authors examine the nature of nanotechnology as a scientific project and critically reflect on its philosophical underpinnings. The next section introduces the readers to a new area of investigation that explicitly addresses the ethics of nanotechnology/bionanotechnology. More specifically, it examines the theoretical framework(s) necessary to sustain rich ethical reflections at the core of the development of nanotechnology. The third section expands on the ethics of nanotechnology/bionanotechnology but focuses on legal and public policy issues and how the public perception of nanotechnology could ultimately shape policies and regulations. Ultimately these three perspectives (the nature of nanotechnology, ethical approaches and regulatory issues) will shape and frame the discourse on nanobiotechnology. The final section focuses on how scientific progress could affect humans through enhancement technologies and critically assesses whether such progress actually contributes to human flourishing.

Inhalt
Beyond Feasibility: Why Ethics Is Important for Bionanotechnology.- Knowledge Production in Nanotechnoscience.- The World View of Nanotechnology Philosophical Reflections.- Nanomachine: Technological Concept or Metaphor?.- No Future for Nanotechnology? Historical Development vs. Global Expansion.- Ethics and (Bio)Nanotechnology.- Bionanotechnology: A New Challenge for Ethical Reflection?.- Nanoparticles: Risk Management and the Precautionary Principle.- Anticipating the Unknown: The Ethics of Nanotechnology.- Applications of Nanotechnology in the Biomedical Sciences: Small Materials, Big Impacts, and Unknown Consequences.- Public Policy and (Bio)Nanotechnology.- Nanobiotechnology and Ethics: Converging Civil Society Discourses.- Allotropes of Fieldwork in Nanotechnology.- Law, Regulation and the Medical Use of Nanotechnology.- Human Enhancement and (Bio)Nanotechnology.- Stage Two Enhancements.- Nanotechnology, the Body and the Mind.- Nanotechnology and Human Flourishing: Toward a Framework for Assessing Radical Human Enhancements.