Synthetic Biology and Morality - Artificial Life and the Bounds of Nature (Paperback)

A range of views on the morality of synthetic biology and its place in public policy and political discourse. Synthetic biology, which aims to design and build organisms that serve human needs, has potential applications that range from producing biofuels to programming human behavior. The emergence of this new form of biotechnology, however, raises a variety of ethical questions-first and foremost, whether synthetic biology is intrinsically troubling in moral terms. Is it an egregious example of scientists "playing God"? Synthetic Biology and Morality takes on this threshold ethical question, as well as others that follow, offering a range of philosophical and political perspectives on the power of synthetic biology. The contributors consider the basic question of the ethics of making new organisms, with essays that lay out the conceptual terrain and offer opposing views of the intrinsic moral concerns; discuss the possibility that synthetic organisms are inherently valuable; and address whether, and how, moral objections to synthetic biology could be relevant to policy making and political discourse. Variations of these questions have been raised before, in debates over other biotechnologies, but, as this book shows, they take on novel and illuminating form when considered in the context of synthetic biology. Contributors John Basl, Mark A. Bedau, Joachim Boldt, John H. Evans, Bruce Jennings, Gregory E. Kaebnick, Ben Larson, Andrew Lustig, Jon Mandle, Thomas H. Murray, Christopher J. Preston, Ronald Sandler

General

Imprint:	MIT Press
Country of origin:	United States
Series:	Basic Bioethics
Release date:	July 2013
First published:	2013
Editors:	Gregory E. Kaebnick • Thomas H. Murray
Contributors:	Gregory E. Kaebnick • Thomas H. Murray • Andrew Lustig • Joachim Boldt • Mark A. Bedau (Professor of Philosophy and Humanities) • Ben Larson • Ronald Sandler (Assistant Professor) • John Basl (Assistant Professor of Philosophy)
Dimensions:	229 x 152 x 10mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Trade
Pages:	222
ISBN-13:	978-0-262-51959-5
Categories:	Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Ethics & moral philosophy > General Books > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Ethics & moral philosophy > General
LSN:	0-262-51959-3
Barcode:	9780262519595

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