|
Showing 1 - 13 of
13 matches in All Departments
There are things that can be done and are done to life on earth
(whether it be human, animal or plant life) which, even if they do
not involve or produce any suffering, are still considered morally
wrong by a large proportion of the public. Such things include
changing the nature of living beings by means of genetic
engineering in order to enhance their health, or, more likely with
animals and plants, their utility, or impairing their ability to
live autonomously, or unduly instrumentalizing them. Yet many
scientists are puzzled about the unwillingness of the public to
feel much enthusiasm about a technology that, in their view,
promises great benefits to humans and does not seem to cause more
harm to animals than other practices which most of us do not
question at all. In this book Michael Hauskeller takes public fears
seriously and offers the idea of 'biological integrity' as a
clarifying principle which can then be analyzed to show that
seemingly irrational public concerns about genetic engineering are
not so irrational after all and that a philosophically sound
justification of those concerns can indeed be given.
Developments in medical science have afforded us the opportunity to
improve and enhance the human species in ways unthinkable to
previous generations. Whether it's making changes to mitochondrial
DNA in a human egg, being prescribed Prozac, or having a facelift,
our desire to live longer, feel better and look good has presented
philosophers, medical practitioners and policy-makers with
considerable ethical challenges. But what exactly constitutes human
improvement? What do we mean when we talk of making "better"
humans? In this book Michael Hauskeller explores these questions
and the ideas of human good that underpin them. Posing some
challenging questions about the nature of human enhancement, he
interrogates the logic behind its processes and examines the
justifications behind its criteria. Questioning common assumptions
about what constitutes human improvement, Hauskeller asks whether
the criteria proposed by its advocates are convincing. The book
draws on recent research as well as popular representations of
human enhancement from advertising to the internet, and provides a
non-technical and accessible survey of the issues for readers and
students interested in the ethics and politics of human
enhancement.
There are things that can be done and are done to life on earth
(whether it be human, animal or plant life) which, even if they do
not involve or produce any suffering, are still considered morally
wrong by a large proportion of the public. Such things include
changing the nature of living beings by means of genetic
engineering in order to enhance their health, or, more likely with
animals and plants, their utility, or impairing their ability to
live autonomously, or unduly instrumentalizing them. Yet many
scientists are puzzled about the unwillingness of the public to
feel much enthusiasm about a technology that, in their view,
promises great benefits to humans and does not seem to cause more
harm to animals than other practices which most of us do not
question at all. In this book Michael Hauskeller takes public fears
seriously and offers the idea of 'biological integrity' as a
clarifying principle which can then be analyzed to show that
seemingly irrational public concerns about genetic engineering are
not so irrational after all and that a philosophically sound
justification of those concerns can indeed be given.
Developments in medical science have afforded us the opportunity to
improve and enhance the human species in ways unthinkable to
previous generations. Whether it's making changes to mitochondrial
DNA in a human egg, being prescribed Prozac, or having a facelift,
our desire to live longer, feel better and look good has presented
philosophers, medical practitioners and policy-makers with
considerable ethical challenges. But what exactly constitutes human
improvement? What do we mean when we talk of making "better"
humans? In this book Michael Hauskeller explores these questions
and the ideas of human good that underpin them. Posing some
challenging questions about the nature of human enhancement, he
interrogates the logic behind its processes and examines the
justifications behind its criteria. Questioning common assumptions
about what constitutes human improvement, Hauskeller asks whether
the criteria proposed by its advocates are convincing. The book
draws on recent research as well as popular representations of
human enhancement from advertising to the internet, and provides a
non-technical and accessible survey of the issues for readers and
students interested in the ethics and politics of human
enhancement.
This book examines the dependence of transhumanist arguments on the
credibility of the narratives of meaning in which they are
embedded. By taking the key ideas from transhumanist philosophy -
the desirability of human self-design and immortality, the
elimination of all suffering and the expansion of human autonomy -
Michael Hauskeller explores these narratives and the understanding
of human nature that informs them. Particular attention is paid to
the theory of transhumanism as a form of utopia, stories of human
nature, the increasing integration of the radical human enhancement
project into the cultural mainstream, and the drive to upgrade from
flesh to machine.
What does popular culture's relationship with cyborgs, robots,
vampires and zombies tell us about being human? Insightful
scholarly perspectives shine a light on how film and television
evince and portray the philosophical roots, the social
ramifications and the future visions of a posthumanist world.
This book examines the dependence of transhumanist arguments on the
credibility of the narratives of meaning in which they are
embedded. By taking the key ideas from transhumanist philosophy -
the desirability of human self-design and immortality, the
elimination of all suffering and the expansion of human autonomy -
Michael Hauskeller explores these narratives and the understanding
of human nature that informs them. Particular attention is paid to
the theory of transhumanism as a form of utopia, stories of human
nature, the increasing integration of the radical human enhancement
project into the cultural mainstream, and the drive to upgrade from
flesh to machine.
What does popular culture's relationship with cyborgs, robots,
vampires and zombies tell us about being human? Insightful
scholarly perspectives shine a light on how film and television
evince and portray the philosophical roots, the social
ramifications and the future visions of a posthumanist world.
This collection of papers aims to increase our understanding of a)
what meaning in life is: how it is to be understood, what its
constituents are, and how it can be properly distinguished from
other features that are commonly thought to be required for a good
life, such as happiness, b) in what way, if any, mortality can be
said to be detrimental to a life's meaningfulness and what follows
from this for the desirability of radical life extension and other
(limit-removing) alterations of the present human condition, and c)
in what way, if any, death and mortality can be said to be
requisites or at least constituents of a meaningful life.
What is the point of living? If we are all going to die anyway, if
nothing will remain of whatever we achieve in this life, why should
we bother trying to achieve anything in the first place? Can we be
mortal and still live a meaningful life? Questions such as these
have been asked for a long time, but nobody has found a conclusive
answer yet. The connection between death and meaning, however, has
taken centre stage in the philosophical and literary work of some
of the world's greatest writers: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy,
Soren Kierkegaard, Arthur Schopenhauer, Herman Melville, Friedrich
Nietzsche, William James, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Marcel Proust, and
Albert Camus. This book explores their ideas, weaving a rich
tapestry of concepts, voices and images, helping the reader to
understand the concerns at the heart of those writers' work and
uncovering common themes and stark contrasts in their understanding
of what kind of world we live in and what really matters in life.
What is the point of living? If we are all going to die anyway, if
nothing will remain of whatever we achieve in this life, why should
we bother trying to achieve anything in the first place? Can we be
mortal and still live a meaningful life? Questions such as these
have been asked for a long time, but nobody has found a conclusive
answer yet. The connection between death and meaning, however, has
taken centre stage in the philosophical and literary work of some
of the world's greatest writers: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy,
Soren Kierkegaard, Arthur Schopenhauer, Herman Melville, Friedrich
Nietzsche, William James, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Marcel Proust, and
Albert Camus. This book explores their ideas, weaving a rich
tapestry of concepts, voices and images, helping the reader to
understand the concerns at the heart of those writers' work and
uncovering common themes and stark contrasts in their understanding
of what kind of world we live in and what really matters in life.
|
Jonathan Swift and Philosophy (Hardcover)
Janelle Poetzsch; Contributions by Michael Hauskeller, Chris A Kramer, Will Desmond, Steve Van-Hagen, …
|
R3,653
Discovery Miles 36 530
|
Ships in 10 - 15 working days
|
Jonathan Swift and Philosophy is the first book to analyse and
interpret Swift's writing from a philosophical angle. By placing
key texts of Swift in their philosophical and cultural contexts and
providing background to their history of ideas, it demonstrates how
well informed Swift's criticism of the politics, philosophy, and
science of his age actually was. Moreover, it also sets straight
preconceptions about Swift as ignorant about the scientific
developments of his time. The authors offer insights into, and
interpretations of, Swift's political philosophy, ethics, and his
philosophy of science and demonstrate how versatile a writer and
thinker Swift actually was. This book will be of interest to
scholars of philosophy, history of ideas, and 18th century
literature and culture.
|
|