The Contingent Nature of Life

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.

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

Autorentext
Dietmar Mieth, geboren 1940, ist Professor für Theologische Ethik an der Universität Tübingen. Neben den Bereichen der Sozialethik und der biomedizinischen Ethik zählt die Mystik zu seinen Forschungsschwerpunkten. Marcus Düwell, geboren 1962, ist Professor für Ethik an der Universität Utrecht, Wissenschaftlicher Direktor des Ethik-Instituts in Utrecht sowie wissenschaftlicher Direktor der Niederländischen Forschungsschule für Praktische Philosophie. Dr. Christoph Rehmann-Sutter, Molekularbiologe und Philosoph, lehrt an der Universität Basel.

Klappentext

Life and nature are imperfect, uncontrollable, and largely (and perhaps permanently) unknowable, that is to say: contingent. The contingency of life is a significant challenge for medicine and technology. Life sciences seem to broaden the possibilities of control to an extent that the contingency of life and nature is no longer self-evident. This very broad statement raises a lot of serious questions. Is it a valid diagnosis? Are the life sciences really defying the contingency of our existence? Or are we simply manipulated by utopian promises? And if contingency is really being challenged, why should we worry about it? Is contingency essential for a meaningful life and way of life? This volume explores the different ways in which the contingency of life, and especially human life, is relevant for ethical discussions and the normative frameworks of bioethics. It explores the relevance of the notion of contingency, and the desire for moral argumentation within bioethics. The authors discuss these notions from a philosophical perspective, paying special attention to the impact of life sciences on people with disabilities and to intercultural perspectives on bioethical debates. The volume also contributes to a deeper reflection on the basic philosophical assumptions of bioethics.

Inhalt
Contingency of Life and the Ethical.- The Value of Natural Contingency.- Between Natural Necessity and Ethical Contingency.- Of Poststructuralist Ethics and Nomadic Subjects.- Genetics, a Practical Anthropology.- Science, Religion, and Contingency.- Ethical Theories and the Limits of Life Sciences.- Bioethics and the Normative Concept of Human Selfhood.- Human Cognitive Vulnerability and the Moral Status of the Human Embryo and Foetus.- Needs and the Metaphysics of Rights.- The Authority of Desire in Medicine.- Procreative Needs and Rights.- Needs, Capacities and Morality.- Moral Judgement and Moral Reasoning.- Philosophical Reflection on Bioethics and Limits.- Cases of Limits.- Finite Lives and Unlimited Medical Aspirations.- Reproductive Choice: Whose Rights? Whose Freedom?.- Assisted Reproduction and the Changing of the Human Body.- On the Limits of Liberal Bioethics.- The Human Embryo as Clinical Tool.- The Naked Emperor.- Abilities and Disabilities.- Disability: Suffering, Social Oppression, or Complex Predicament?.- Disability and Moral Philosophy: Difference Should Count.- Neuro-Prosthetics, the Extended Mind, and Respect for Persons with Disability.- Others' Views: Intercultural Perspectives.- Normative Relations: East Asian on Biomedicine and Bioethics.- Limits of Human Existence According to China's Bioethics.- There is the World, and there is the Map of the World.- Reflections on Human Dignity and the Israeli Cloning Debate.- Conceiving of Human Life.- Globalization and the Dynamic Role of Human Rights in Relation to a Common Perspective for Life Sciences.