Description
Book SynopsisAdvances in our scientific understanding and technological power in recent decades have dramatically amplified our capacity to intentionally manipulate complex ecological and biological systems. An implication of this is that biological and ecological problems are increasingly understood and approached from an engineering perspective. In environmental contexts, this is exemplified in the pursuits of geoengineering, designer ecosystems, and conservation cloning. In human health contexts, it is exemplified in the development of synthetic biology, bionanotechnology, and human enhancement technologies. Designer Biology: The Ethics of Intensively Engineering Biological and Ecological Systems consists of thirteen chapters (twelve of them original to the collection) that address the ethical issues raised by technological intervention and design across a broad range of biological and ecological systems. Among the technologies addressed are geoengineering, human enhancement, sex selection, gene
Trade Review“Humans have always been ‘engineering animals,’ as Ronald L. Sandler and John Basl remind us in their introduction. But the degree to which this single species can now intensively transform itself, the global ecology, and other life forms means that today we stand on the cusp of something truly startling. In attempting to integrate discussion of what is at stake ethically at some of these frontiers, the chapters in this collection both agitate and entice. At times wildly provocative and combative, at other times gently reassuring and humanistic, these well-written contributions show how the boundaries between ethics, management, and policy are quickly blurring, and how deeply held cultural meanings are starting to shift. Designer Biology deals with topics in both daily news and in cutting-edge academic journals. Read this collection to get educated in the ethics of a fast-evolving technosphere.” -- Christopher J. Preston, Professor of Philosophy and Fellow at the Program on Ethics and Public Affairs, University of Montana
Designer Biology is notable both for the breadth of issues that are addressed and for sharpness of the argumentation. I think it will help to focus the discourse on ethical issues connected with some of the key developments in biology and their relevance to a host of possible technological applications. -- Paul B. Thompson, Michigan State University, W.K. Kellogg Professor of Agricultural, Food, and Community Ethics
This work, edited by Basl and Sandler (both, philosophy, Northeastern Univ.), is a compilation of papers based on a workshop held at Northeastern. The book contains 13 chapters divided in three parts: 'Engineering Humans,' 'Engineering the Environment,' and 'Engineering Life.' Twelve of the 13 chapters are from the workshop; the last chapter does a very nice job of providing conclusions and generalizations based on the other chapters. Contributors address topics such as the consideration of moral responsibility for using engineering methods to select the sex of human embryos; using molecular techniques to create 'designer' children; using implants and/or drugs to affect moral behavior; altering the Earth's atmosphere to combat climate change; and artificially designing and developing technologically created organisms. Each chapter stands alone and would pique a reader's interest in moral issues associated with new and future use of biological engineering to manipulate biological entities. The chapters are provocative and are valuable as a basis for considerations of the ethics of human intervention into natural systems. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers/faculty. * CHOICE *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Contributor Biographies Introduction I. Engineering Humans Chapter 1: Sex Selection and the Value-Ladenness of the Procreative Liberty Framework Chapter 2: The Ethics of Embryo Selection Chapter 3: Assessing Efficacy of “Neuroenhancing” Drugs: Normative Problems in Empirical Controversies Chapter 4: Engineering for Virtue? Toward Holistic Moral Enhancement Chapter 5: Radical Enhancement and What’ Wrong with It Chapter 6: Human Engineering and Climate Change II. Engineering the Environment Chapter 7: The Human Influence: Moral Responsibility for Novel Ecosystems Chapter 8: Why Scientists Should Get Out of Nature Conservation Chapter 9: What it Takes to Justify Geoengineering the Climate Chapter 10: Remediation vs. Steering: An Act-Description Approach to Approving and Funding Geoengineering Research III. Engineering Life Chapter 11: Sensitivity Enhancement: The Ethics of Testing Cognitive Enhancement on Non-Human Research Subjects Chapter 12: The Capacities, Interests, and Organization of Artifactual Organisms Chapter 13: How to Evolve a Good of Your Own: The Biological Interests of Instant Organisms Conclusion: Lessons for the Future
