Ethical issues, topics and debates Books

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Book SynopsisEvil is not confined to war or to circumstances in which people are acting under extreme duress. Today it more frequently reveals itself in the everyday insensitivity to the suffering of others, in the inability or refusal to understand them and in the casual turning away of one's ethical gaze. Evil and moral blindness lurk in what we take as normality and in the triviality and banality of everyday life, and not just in the abnormal and exceptional cases. The distinctive kind of moral blindness that characterizes our societies is brilliantly analysed by Zygmunt Bauman and Leonidas Donskis through the concept of adiaphora: the placing of certain acts or categories of human beings outside of the universe of moral obligations and evaluations. Adiaphora implies an attitude of indifference to what is happening in the world a moral numbness. In a life where rhythms are dictated by ratings wars and box-office returns, where people are preoccupied with the latest gadgets and forms oTrade Review“In order to overcome moral blindness, we have to break the vicious circle of consumerism: politics has to address, again, real problems, universities have to provide us with ‘intellectual slow food’, but most of all we have to regain our dialogic nature – the ability to tell stories and listen to them. Moral Blindness is definitely a good lesson of that.” European Journal of Cultural and Political SociologyTable of ContentsIntroduction: Towards a Theory of Human Secrecy and Unfathomability, or Exposing Elusive Forms of Evil 1 1. From the Devil to Frighteningly Normal and Sane People 17 2. The Crisis of Politics and the Search for a Language of Sensitivity 50 3. Between Fear and Indifference: The Loss of Sensitivity 94 4. Consuming University: The New Sense of Meaninglessness and the Loss of Criteria 131 5. Rethinking The Decline of the West 168

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Book SynopsisArgues that as porn becomes more pervasive, it is destroying our marriages and families. This work exposes how porn has infiltrated our lives, from the wife agonizing over the late-night hours her husband spends on porn Web sites to the parents stunned to learn their twelve-year-old son has seen a hardcore porn film.

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Book SynopsisWith reproductive medical technologies becoming more accessible, assisted donor conception is raising new and important questions about family life. Using in-depth interviews the authors explore the lived reality of donor conception and offer insights into the complexities of these new family relationships.Trade Review"This book isn't a dry academic tome ... it is accessible and can be read by anyone with an interest in donor conception. I would strongly recommend it to parents of donor-conceived children to whom it could be enormously reassuring." - Sarah Norcross, BioNews "The insights gained in the in-depth interviews with members of lesbian and heterosexual couple families who have used donor conception are beyond anything I have ever come across before, and should be enormously helpful in re-assessing both the policy and practice of the range of support that needs to be in place at every stage of the donor conception family journey." - Olivia's View blog "The book is very interesting and a good illustration of some of some of the changes, dynamics and fluidities of family life." - Network: Magazine of the British Sociological Association "Intelligent and informed reflection on how the interviewees themselves have come to work on the relevant issues, how their own uses of metaphors relating to genes and the contribution of donor gametes have been shaped by their experiences, and how this work reflects on family life and kinship more widely." - Journal of Social Policy 'It is not often that an academic book can be described as truly delightful, but, in the case of Relative Strangers such a description is certainly appropriate.' Sociology of Health & IllnessTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Proper Families? Cultural Expectations and Donor Conception 2. Uncharted Territories: Donor Conception in Personal Life 3. Ripples Through the Family 4. Keeping it Close: Sensitivities and Secrecy 5. Opening Up: Negotiating Disclosure 6. Donors: Strangers, Boundaries and Tantalising Knowledge 7. (Not) One of Us: Genes and Belonging in Family Life 8. Relative Strangers and the Paradoxes of Genetic Kinship

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Book SynopsisThe Proactionary Imperative debates the concept of transforming human nature, including such thorny topics as humanity's privilege as a species, our capacity to 'play God', the idea that we might treat our genes as a capital investment, eugenics and what it might mean to be 'human' in the context of risky scientific and technological interventions.Trade Review"The book's foremost strength is its willingness to address the challenging social justice issues which those on the libertarian side of the transhumanist movement might otherwise overlook. Also greatly commendable is the varied array of material the authors summon to make their case. Accordingly, anyone who identifies with the need for future collectivist and democratic (as opposed to the typical market-driven) strategies for human enhancement, will undoubtedly find this text a well-informed 21st century starting point." - Sociological ImaginationTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Precautionary and Proactionary as the 21st Century's Defining Ideological Polarity 2. Proactionary Theology: Discovering the Art of God-Playing 3. Proactionary Biology: Recovering the Science of Eugenics 4. A Legal Framework for the Proactionary Principle The Proactionary Manifesto

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Book SynopsisPat Scales has been a passionate advocate for intellectual freedom long before she launched the Scales on Censorship column with School Library Journal in 2006. Decades of experience as a school librarian informs her ongoing work on these important and often volatile issues, as did her tenure in leadership roles on the American Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee and at the Freedom To Read Foundation. It also earned her a place among the inaugural list of Library Journal's Movers & Shakers in 2002. Since her first column for SLJ she has been in an ongoing conversation of sorts with librarians, teachers, and parentsa much needed conversation. This collection of the wide-ranging questions from readers and Scales' informative answers are gathered in broad thematic groups to help readers explore the all-too daily reality of confronting efforts to censor, ban, or otherwise limit open and ready access to materials in our schools and libraries. They were all written in responTrade ReviewSupportive, thorough and direct, Scales on Censorship acts as an essential guide in making decisions that will benefit the collective whole. In many scenarios, Scales outlines both the positive and negative outcomes of various approaches to censorship, giving the reader the ability to follow the outlined approach or create a different approach to a similar situation. In replying to specific questions, Scales references a litany of internet resources, print sources, court cases, and personal experience. The reader could apply the above resources to a myriad of censorship issues outside of the specific questions Scales directly references in the book. In doing so, this book becomes an essential manual every educational leader should keep, reference, and address throughout the decision-making process. * VOYA *

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Book SynopsisJames Bamford, the bestselling author of The Puzzle Palace and Body of Secrets, unveils a hidden cabal of foreign powers that have spied against America to reveal the incredible spygames, secrets, and cyberweapons they’ve hatched, unlocked, and stolen--and how U.S. intelligence has utterly failed to stop them.   SPYFAIL is about the highly dangerous and growing capability of foreign countries to conduct large-scale espionage within the United States and how the FBI and other agencies have failed to prevent it. These covert operations involve a variety of foreign countries—North Korea, Russia, Israel, China, and others—and include cyberattacks, espionage, psychological warfare, the infiltration of presidential campaigns, the smuggling of nuclear weapons components, and other incredibly nefarious actions.    With his trademark deep investigative style, James Bamford digs as deep as one can go into these clandestine invasions and attacks, uncovering who’s involved, how these spygames were carried out, and why none of this was stopped. Full of revelations, SPYFAIL includes access to previously secret and withheld documents, such as never-before-seen parts of the Mueller Report, and interviews with confidential sources.    Throughout this stunning, eye-opening account, SPYFAIL demonstrates again and again how large a role politics, special interests, and corruption play in allowing these shocking foreign intrusions to continue—leaving America and its secrets vulnerable and undefended.

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Book SynopsisOur progressive philosophy calls for more freedom and more prosperity for more people. Yet author Kevin Galalae says you can''t always have more. Overpopulation is making us victims of our own triumphs over nature. Lacking a popular consensus to control population, the ruling elite have resorted to covert means. Their depopulation project has had considerable success, but at a terrible cost. "Strict secrecy and deception have been necessary to prevent the masses from discovering the bitter truth that for the past 68 years they have been the object of a silent and global offensive, a campaign of attrition that has turned the basic elements of life into weapons of mass infertility and selective death." "The birth of nearly two billion people has been prevented and the death of half a billion hurried. While these goals have been intentional, the architects of the Global Depopulation Policy have unintentionally undermined the genetic and intellectual endowment of the human species and have set back eons of natural selection." We are adding a billion people every 10 - 15 years, while consumption per person has skyrocketed -- placing unsustainable demands on resources like water and fuel. The only decent alternative is voluntary population control to reduce world population. Here are the methods actually being used. Contraception and abortion. Chemical sterilisation: Flouridation, BPA-contaminated plastic and metal food packaging. Drawbacks: increase in chronic illnesses and lowering of IQ will lead to massive degeneracy in a couple generations. The coercive one child policy -- overall a success story for China; surgical sterilisation in India. Biological: synthetic HIV virus in Africa, flu viruses, GMO crops. Lowering human fertility, while weakening the immune system to increase mortality. Psychosocial: weakening the family, forcing women to work, high divorce rates, youth unemployment, countercultures, drug, tobacco and alcohol abuse, incarceration, accelerated urbanisation. Successful in Europe where population has started to shrink. Political drawbacks: a secret state conducting genocide against its own people; sham democracy; a culture of deception. Endangering the gene pool and the ecosystem. Even so, it is more humane than the alternative of another world war to reduce numbers. Social costs: economic decline, collapse of social safety nets. Sustainable development policies don''t mention the risks of covert sterilisation that underpin them. "Population control as a substitute to war is the progeny of the bipolar world order that followed World War II ... they agreed to wage a demographic war on their own people, and on those within their spheres of influence, rather than risk their mutually assured destruction in a nuclear confrontation." The way forward: broad popular understanding of the issues. Yet politicians don''t want to open up to a policy based on popular consensus, because that would undermine their power, which is based on manipulation. Aside from his writings, the author''s efforts to awaken the world have included hunger strikes, imprisonment and legal battles.

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Book SynopsisWorldwide, over 75 million people are involuntarily childless, a devastating experience for many with significant consequences for the social and psychological well-being of women in particular. Despite greater levels of infertility and strong cultural meanings attached to having children, little attention has been paid politically or academically to the needs of minority ethnic women and men. This groundbreaking volume is the first to highlight the ways in which diverse ethnic, cultural and religious identities impact upon understandings of technological solutions for infertility and associated treatment experiences within Western societies. It offers a corrective to the dominance of the narratives of hegemonic groups in infertility research. The collection begins with a discussion of fertility prevalence and access to treatment for minorities in the West and considers some of the key methodological challenges for social research on ethnicity and infertility. Drawing on primary research from the US, the UK, Eire, Germany, the Netherlands and Australia, the book then turns the spotlight onto the ways in which minority status and cultural and religious mores might impact on the experience of infertility and assisted reproductive technologies. It argues that more equitable access to culturally competent assisted conception services should be an essential component of a transformatory politics of infertility.Trade Review'An exciting piece of academic work that is 'user friendly', well structured and thoroughly engaging' Diversity in Health and Care 'This important and highly illuminating book fills a large gap in the literature on infertility and reproductive technologies and should be read by everyone with a connection to the field.' Professor Susan Golombok, Director of Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge 'This impressive multi-disciplinary collection makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the relationship between infertility, ethnicity and culture and how ethnicity and culture shape the experience of infertility in the West. The editors and chapter authors draw attention to important theoretical and methodological issues and to health and policy concerns.' Gayle Letherby, Professor of Sociology, University of Plymouth 'The editors have done an excellent job of compiling in one place a group of informative and interesting chapters which draw our attention to a new perspective from which to view both the experience of infertility and the reality of industrialised societies.' From the foreword by Professor Arthur L. Greil, Alfred University, New York 'As a multi-disciplinary collection, this volume offers a range of perspectives on how ethnicity, culture and infertility play out in particular contexts. As well as discussing experience of and policy around infertility, the chapters offer glimpses of the rich cultural critique available by examining the majority culture from the viewpoint of the involuntarily infertile minority ethnic couple.' Sociology Of Health and Illness 'Should it be read by everyone with a connection to the field as Susan Golombok states on the cover? The answer has to be yes, if we are to improve the lot of minority groups and work towards better access to assisted conception.' BioNews 'It is technically detailed and also informative to all categories of reader...the book is packed with realities and well presented facts about infertility.' Omlola Ashadele, International Journal of Health Planning and Management.Table of ContentsForeword Introduction: Ethnicity, Infertility and Assisted Reproductive Technologies Part I: Researching Infertility, Ethnicity and Culture 1. Dominant Narratives and Excluded Voices: Research on Ethnic Differences in Access to Assisted Conception in More Developed Societies 2. Infertility and Culture: Explanations, Implications and Dilemmas 3. Making Sense of Ethnic Diversity, Difference and Disadvantage within the Context of Multicultural Societies 4. Representation of Ethnic Minorities in Research: Necessity, Opportunity and Adverse Effects 5. What Difference Does Our Difference Make in Researching Infertility? Part II: Exploring Infertility, Ethnicity and Culture in National Contexts 6. Commonalities, Differences and Possibilities: Culture and Infertility in British South Asian Communities 7. 'Anything to Become a Mother': Migrant Turkish Women's Experiences of Involuntary Childlessness and Assisted Reproductive Technologies in London 8. Infertile Turkish and Moroccan Minority Groups in the Netherlands: Patients' Views on Problems within Infertility Care 9. Treating the Afflicted Body: Perceptions of Infertility and Ethnomedicine among Fertile Hmong Women in Australia 10. Experiences from a Constitutional State: Ireland's Problematic Embryo 11. Marginalized, Invisible and Unwanted: American Minority Struggles with Infertility and Assisted Conception Glossary Index

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Book SynopsisHow did the early Christians manage to establish a religion and institution which, despite persecution, flourished and grew? How did their initial experience of being a despised minority in the Roman Empire shape their sense of privileged identity and uniqueness? And how was it that - at least at the outset - the first believers were able to exist alongside the same shared traditions, rituals and beliefs of the Jews, despite the Jewish rejection of Jesus as Messiah?The Christian community was born out of paradox: its faith in a man who was also the 'anointed one' (or Christ) of God; and its growth and development often echoed those complex and contradictory origins. Morwenna Ludlow discusses the fragile context as well as the emerging core beliefs of the early Church (including divine creation, salvation, eschatology, the humanity and divinity of Christ and the inter-relationships of the Trinity) between 50-600 CE. She also examines the process of Christian self-definition in response to groups on the edge of the Church, such as Gnostics, Marcionites, Montanists and Manichaeans, as well as in relation to Judaism. Bringing to vivid life the remarkable history of the early Church, in all its conflict and struggle, the author shows why such a successful faith was able to rise out of such improbable and unpromising beginnings.Trade Review'A series such as this is hugely welcome. Its emphasis on the history of ideas, and on the global - not just European - experience of Christianity and its manifestations of church, will be valued by students, scholars and general readers alike. The I.B.Tauris History of the Christian Church brings ecclesiastical history into a new era, for a new generation'. - Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church, University of Oxford

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Book SynopsisIn this new addition to the 'Debating Law' series, Emily Jackson and John Keown re-examine the legal and ethical aspects of the euthanasia debate. Emily Jackson argues that we owe it to everyone in society to do all that we can to ensure that they experience a 'good death'. For a small minority of patients who experience intolerable and unrelievable suffering, this may mean helping them to have an assisted death. In a liberal society, where people's moral views differ, we should not force individuals to experience deaths they find intolerable. This is not an argument in favour of dying. On the contrary, Jackson argues that legalisation could extend and enhance the lives of people whose present fear of the dying process causes them overwhelming distress. John Keown argues that voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are gravely unethical and he defends their continued prohibition by law. He analyses the main arguments for relaxation of the law - including those which invoke the experience of jurisdictions which permit these practices - and finds them wanting. Relaxing the law would, he concludes, be both wrong in principle and dangerous in practice, not least for the dying, the disabled and the disadvantaged.Trade ReviewBoth Jackson and Keown are recognized experts in the field, and their positions are well known: thus the book contains (with merit) a wide variety of arguments and perspectives. And, although each author's presentation is different in his or her own way, the way in which each of them confront identical problems is one of the greatest values of the book. -- Ricardo Chueca * Law and Politics Book Review, Volume 23(2) *This highly accessible book reveals and critiques the flawed logic of the utilitarian mind with its view that human life has but instrumental value to be discarded when no longer of use, justifiable on the grounds that autonomy is to be respected even more than life. With echoes of the tactics used to force the decriminalisation of abortion, this book is a must read for anyone interested in deepening their understanding of the hotly disputed issue of assisted dying. -- unknown * LIFE Magazine *Both Jackson and Keown have put forward accessible and well-argued cases for their respective views. -- Alex Carlile * The Tablet *A concise and excellent summary of the current state of play in the debate about assisted dying. -- Roger Woodruff * International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care e-Newsletter *Both Jackson's and Keown's contributions are clearly presented and succinct, and provide learned representations of the polarised perspectives taken in the euthanasia debate. ... as a supplementary text, one which is used in conjunction with others to flesh out an area of study, it is invaluable. -- Jennifer Edwards * Medical Law Review, Volume 21 *Table of ContentsSeries Editor's Preface Acknowledgements – John Keown and Emily Jackson In Favour of the Legalisation of Assisted Dying by Emily Jackson I. Introduction II. Why We Should Try III. The Status Quo is Indefensible A. Double Effect B. Terminal Sedation C. 'Do Not Attempt Resuscitation' Orders D. Treatment Withdrawal E. Exporting the 'Problem' of Assisted Suicide F. The Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide 'Underground' and the Benefits of Regulation IV. Why Might Anyone Think We Shouldn't Try? A. The Sanctity and Value of Life B. Effect on Doctor–Patient Relationship C. Regulatory Difficulties V. What Might an Assisted Dying Law Look Like? A. Other Countries' Experience B. Process C. Method: Assisted Suicide or Euthanasia, or Both? D. Substance VI. What are the Consequences of not Trying? Against Decriminalising Euthanasia; For Improving Care by John Keown I. Introduction II. Definitions III. Ten Arguments For Decriminalisation A. Autonomy B. Compassion C. Legal Hypocrisy D. A Right to Suicide E. Public Opinion F. Legal Failure G. The Netherlands H. Oregon I. Religion J. Economics IV. Professor Jackson's Arguments A. Jackson 1 B. Jackson 2 V. The Joffe Bill A. The Bill B. Key Committee Recommendations Not Adopted C. Extension and Abuse VI. Conclusions

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Book SynopsisWhat if you aren’t who you think you are? What if you don’t really know the people closest to you? And what if your most deeply-held beliefs turn out to be … wrong? In Stop Being Reasonable, philosopher and journalist Eleanor Gordon-Smith tells six lucid, gripping stories that show the limits of human reason. From the woman who realised her husband harboured a terrible secret, to the man who left the cult he had been raised in since birth, and the British reality TV contestant who, having impersonated someone else for a month, discovered he could no longer return to his former identity, all of the people interviewed radically altered their beliefs about the things that matter most. What made them change course? How should their reversals affect how we think about our own beliefs? And in an increasingly divided world, what do they teach us about how we might change the minds of others? Inspiring, perceptive, and often moving, Stop Being Reasonable explores the place where philosophy and real life meet. Ultimately, it argues that when it comes to finding out what’s true or convincing others about what we know, being rational might involve our hearts as well as our minds. Trade Review‘Relevant and accessible … a witty book.’ -- Jonnie Wolf * The Observer *‘I knew how piercingly smart Eleanor Gordon-Smith is, and what a curious and resolute interviewer. But I was unprepared for how entertainingly she writes! I read this with pleasure.’ -- Ira Glass‘The book is slickly written and relies for its substance on contemporary epistemology and ethics, rather than the usual well-trodden paths of nudge theory and popular psychology.’ -- Dan Brotzel * Press Association *‘Gordon-Smith has written a book that not only questions long-held philosophical belief — can Descartes’ philosophy of doubt drive us from truth? — but one that engages with life in such a way that makes the argument feel existentially urgent.’ * Sydney Morning Herald *‘It is curious and intelligent and deeply researched and genuinely thoughtful, and at the same time consistently entertaining to read … If you want to introduce someone to philosophy, give them this book.’ -- Alex Tighe * Australian Book Review *‘Gordon-Smith does not have all the answers. But she gives us the tools we need to examine our biases and choose how we approach the decisions we need to make. For those of us who suspect the time for being reasonable — and not getting emotional — has passed, this is the book we need.’ -- Astrid Edwards * The Saturday Paper *‘I’ve never read anything quite like this book; it is empathetic, sharply intelligent, and accessible.’ -- Ellen Cregan * Kill Your Darlings *'A frank and thoughtful new voice ... this is an assured and companionable guide through the wilderness of contemporary ethics.' -- Shahidha Bari'This is a funny, sharp-edged and deeply serious book about a mainstream myth: that we all know what rationality demands. A pleasure to read.' -- Amia Srinivasan

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