In public debates over biotechnology, theologians, philosophers, and political theorists have proposed that biotechnology could have significant implications for human nature. They argue that ethical evaluations of biotechnologies that might affect human nature must take these implications into account. In this book, Gerald McKenny examines these important yet controversial arguments, which have in turn been criticized by many moral philosophers and professional bioethicists. He argues that Christian ethics is, in principle, committed to some version of the claim that human nature has normative status in relation to biotechnology. Showing how both criticisms and defences of this claim have often been facile, he identifies, develops, and critically evaluates three versions of the claim, and contributes a fourth, distinctively Christian version to the debate. Focusing on Christian ethics in conversation with secular ethics, McKenny's book is the first thorough analysis of a controversial contemporary issue.
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1. Biotechnology and the normative status of human nature; 2. Human nature as given; 3. Human nature as ground of human goods and rights; 4. Human nature as indeterminate, open-ended, and malleable; 5. Human nature as condition for imaging God; Conclusion; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.
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'Well written and with sound scholarly apparatus, this text will serve ethics and philosophy professionals as well as upper-level students.' M. LaBar, Choice
It is a comprehensive and critical study of the normative status of human nature in biotechnology from a Christian perspective.

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781108422802
Publisert
2018-01-19
Utgiver
Vendor
Cambridge University Press
Vekt
500 gr
Høyde
237 mm
Bredde
160 mm
Dybde
20 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
235

Forfatter

Biographical note

Gerald McKenny is Walter Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. He is the author of To Relieve the Human Condition: Bioethics, Technology, and the Body (1997) and The Analogy of Grace: Karl Barth's Moral Theology (2013). His work in theological ethics and biomedical ethics is concerned with Christian ethics in a milieu that is shaped by modern culture, politics, and technology.