The Future of Human Nature (Hardcover)

Recent developments in biotechnology and genetic research are raising complex ethical questions concerning the legitimate scope and limits of genetic intervention. As we begin to contemplate the possibility of intervening in the human genome to prevent diseases, we cannot help but feel that the human species might soon take biological evolution into its own hands. In this important new book, Jurgen Habermas--the most influential philosopher and social thinker in Germany today--takes up the question of genetic engineering and its ethical implications and subjects it to careful philosophical scrutiny. Habermas's analysis is guided by the view that genetic manipulation is closely tied to the identity and self-understanding of the species. Habermas is particularly concerned with the question of how the biotechnological blurring of the distinction between the "grown" and the "made" may change our ethical self-understanding both as members of the species and as individuals. We cannot rule out the possibility that knowledge of one's own heredity will restrict individual freedom and undermine the symmetrical relations between free and equal human beings. In the concluding chapter--which was delivered as a lecture on receiving the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade for 2001--Habermas broadens the discussion to examine the tension between science and religion in the modern world, a tension that exploded with tragic violence on September 11, 2001.

General

Imprint:	Polity Press
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	February 2003
First published:	February 2003
Authors:	J Habermas
Dimensions:	223 x 144 x 16mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	136
ISBN-13:	978-0-7456-2986-5
Categories:	Books > Medicine > General issues > Medical ethics Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > Impact of science & technology on society Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Ethics & moral philosophy > General Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Western philosophy > Modern Western philosophy, c 1600 to the present > Western philosophy, from c 1900 - > General Books > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Ethics & moral philosophy > General Books > Philosophy > Western philosophy > Modern Western philosophy, c 1600 to the present > Western philosophy, from c 1900 - > General Promotions
LSN:	0-7456-2986-5
Barcode:	9780745629865

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