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How we dispose of our rubbish, choose the foods we buy, enjoy art,
relate to our families, and think about ourselves are just a few of
the ways that ideas about nature shape our everyday ethical
decisions. Nature and 'natural facts' have long been used to make
sense of why we act a certain way. Nature is a concept with great
power: when we describe something as 'natural' or 'unnatural', it
has a moral force and political consequences. We see this in moral
panics about genetically modified foods, the spread of
government-enforced waste recycling schemes, concerns about
assisted reproductive technologies. Our ideas about what is natural
shape our ethical thinking, in terms of how people live (or want to
live) their lives, but also in guiding our sense of morality,
justice and truth. The idea of naturalness is essential to grasping
Anglo-American cultures. Throughout history and in different
places, nature has had different forms, meanings, and moral
valences. It is a knowable fact, but at the same time almost a
divine principle that is ultimately unfathomable. Yet with the rise
of new technologies, there is increasing uncertainty about what we
claim to be natural, who we are, how we are related to each other,
and how we should live. This book examines the how ideas about
nature and ethics overlap and separate across cultural, species,
geographic, and moral boundaries. It compares the varied ways in
which nature and ideas of naturalness pervade all aspects of
people's lives, from family relationships, to the production and
consumption of food, to ideas about scientific truth. In a world of
increasing uncertainty, nature remains a powerful concept: the
ultimate reference point, invested with profound moral authority to
guide our ethical behaviour. This book was originally published as
a special issue of Ethnos.
>Human reproduction is mediated through many technologies, both
high- and low-tech. These technologies of reproduction are not
experienced in isolation by most of the people who use them.
However clinical, public health and social scientific research
often reflects a parcelling out of reproduction into specialist
areas of biomedical intervention. Studies tend to be bound to
specific physiological events, technologies (particularly those
that are more obviously technical or 'modern') and people - namely
cis, heterosexual, white, middle-class women. Yet, with the
ever-expanding horizon of reproductive technologies and the rapid
development of the fertility industry, the reality is that many
individuals will engage with more than one such technology at some
point in their life. >Technologies of Reproduction Across the
Lifecourse presents dialogue between scholars on different
reproductive technologies not only from a comparative empirical
perspective, arguing that operating in disciplinary silos and
working from narrow ideas about RTs and their meanings can put
reproductive studies in danger of missing, and thereby reproducing,
the kinds of power structures that shape reproductive life.
How we dispose of our rubbish, choose the foods we buy, enjoy art,
relate to our families, and think about ourselves are just a few of
the ways that ideas about nature shape our everyday ethical
decisions. Nature and 'natural facts' have long been used to make
sense of why we act a certain way. Nature is a concept with great
power: when we describe something as 'natural' or 'unnatural', it
has a moral force and political consequences. We see this in moral
panics about genetically modified foods, the spread of
government-enforced waste recycling schemes, concerns about
assisted reproductive technologies. Our ideas about what is natural
shape our ethical thinking, in terms of how people live (or want to
live) their lives, but also in guiding our sense of morality,
justice and truth. The idea of naturalness is essential to grasping
Anglo-American cultures. Throughout history and in different
places, nature has had different forms, meanings, and moral
valences. It is a knowable fact, but at the same time almost a
divine principle that is ultimately unfathomable. Yet with the rise
of new technologies, there is increasing uncertainty about what we
claim to be natural, who we are, how we are related to each other,
and how we should live. This book examines the how ideas about
nature and ethics overlap and separate across cultural, species,
geographic, and moral boundaries. It compares the varied ways in
which nature and ideas of naturalness pervade all aspects of
people's lives, from family relationships, to the production and
consumption of food, to ideas about scientific truth. In a world of
increasing uncertainty, nature remains a powerful concept: the
ultimate reference point, invested with profound moral authority to
guide our ethical behaviour. This book was originally published as
a special issue of Ethnos.
Making a Good Life takes a timely look at the ideas and values that
inform how people think about reproduction and assisted
reproductive technologies. In an era of heightened scrutiny about
parenting and reproduction, fears about environmental degradation,
and the rise of the biotechnology industry, Katharine Dow delves
into the reproductive ethics of those who do not have a personal
stake in assisted reproductive technologies, but who are building
lives inspired and influenced by environmentalism and concerns
about the natural world's future. Moving away from experiences of
infertility treatments tied to the clinic and laboratory, Dow
instead explores reproduction and assisted reproductive
technologies as topics of public concern and debate, and she
examines how people living in a coastal village in rural Scotland
make ethical decisions and judgments about these matters. In
particular, Dow engages with people's ideas about nature and
naturalness, and how these relate to views about parenting and
building stable environments for future generations. Taking into
account the ways daily responsibilities and commitments are
balanced with moral values, Dow suggests there is still much to
uncover about reproductive ethics. Analyzing how ideas about
reproduction intersect with wider ethical struggles, Making a Good
Life offers a new approach to researching, thinking, and writing
about nature, ethics, and reproduction.
Making a Good Life takes a timely look at the ideas and values that
inform how people think about reproduction and assisted
reproductive technologies. In an era of heightened scrutiny about
parenting and reproduction, fears about environmental degradation,
and the rise of the biotechnology industry, Katharine Dow delves
into the reproductive ethics of those who do not have a personal
stake in assisted reproductive technologies, but who are building
lives inspired and influenced by environmentalism and concerns
about the natural world's future. Moving away from experiences of
infertility treatments tied to the clinic and laboratory, Dow
instead explores reproduction and assisted reproductive
technologies as topics of public concern and debate, and she
examines how people living in a coastal village in rural Scotland
make ethical decisions and judgments about these matters. In
particular, Dow engages with people's ideas about nature and
naturalness, and how these relate to views about parenting and
building stable environments for future generations. Taking into
account the ways daily responsibilities and commitments are
balanced with moral values, Dow suggests there is still much to
uncover about reproductive ethics. Analyzing how ideas about
reproduction intersect with wider ethical struggles, Making a Good
Life offers a new approach to researching, thinking, and writing
about nature, ethics, and reproduction.
The term "Anthropocene", the era of mankind, is increasingly being
used as a scientific designation for the current geological epoch.
This is because the human species now dominates ecosystems
worldwide, and affects nature in a way that rivals natural forces
in magnitude and scale. Thinking about Animals in the Age of the
Anthropocene presents a dozen chapters that address the role and
place of animals in this epoch characterized by anthropogenic
(human-made) environmental change. While some chapters describe our
impact on the living conditions of animals, others question
conventional ideas about human exceptionalism, and stress the
complex cognitive and other abilities of animals. The Anthropocene
idea forces us to rethink our relation to nature and to animals,
and to critically reflect on our own role and place in the world,
as a species. Nature is not what it was. Nor are the lives of
animals as they used to be before mankinds rise to global
ecological prominence. Can we eventually learn to live with
animals, rather than causing extinction and ecological mayhem?
The term "Anthropocene", the era of mankind, is increasingly being
used as a scientific designation for the current geological epoch.
This is because the human species now dominates ecosystems
worldwide, and affects nature in a way that rivals natural forces
in magnitude and scale. Thinking about Animals in the Age of the
Anthropocene presents a dozen chapters that address the role and
place of animals in this epoch characterized by anthropogenic
(human-made) environmental change. While some chapters describe our
impact on the living conditions of animals, others question
conventional ideas about human exceptionalism, and stress the
complex cognitive and other abilities of animals. The Anthropocene
idea forces us to rethink our relation to nature and to animals,
and to critically reflect on our own role and place in the world,
as a species. Nature is not what it was. Nor are the lives of
animals as they used to be before mankinds rise to global
ecological prominence. Can we eventually learn to live with
animals, rather than causing extinction and ecological mayhem?
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