Bioethics in the Age of New Media (Mit Press) - Hardcover

Zylinska, Professor Of New Media And Communications Joanna

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262240564 ISBN 13: 9780262240567

Publisher: MIT Press, 2009

Synopsis

An examination of ethical challenges that technology presents to the allegedly sacrosanct idea of the human and a proposal for a new ethics of life rooted in the philosophy of alterity.

Bioethical dilemmas―including those over genetic screening, compulsory vaccination, and abortion―have been the subject of ongoing debates in the media, among the public, and in professional and academic communities. But the paramount bioethical issue in an age of digital technology and new media, Joanna Zylinska argues, is the transformation of the very notion of life. In this provocative book, Zylinska examines many of the ethical challenges that technology poses to the allegedly sacrosanct idea of the human. In doing so, she goes beyond the traditional understanding of bioethics as a matter for moral philosophy and medicine to propose a new “ethics of life” rooted in the relationship between the human and the nonhuman (both animals and machines) that new technology prompts us to develop. After a detailed discussion of the classical theoretical perspectives on bioethics, Zylinska describes three cases of “bioethics in action,” through which the concepts of “the human,” “animal,” and “life” are being redefined: the reconfiguration of bodily identity by plastic surgery in a TV makeover show; the reduction of the body to two-dimensional genetic code; and the use of biological material in such examples of “bioart” as Eduardo Kac's infamous fluorescent green bunny. Zylinska addresses ethics from the interdisciplinary perspective of media and cultural studies, drawing on the writings of thinkers from Agamben and Foucault to Haraway and Hayles. Taking theoretical inspiration in particular from the philosophy of alterity as developed by Jacques Derrida, Emmanuel Levinas, and Bernard Stiegler, Zylinska makes the case for a new nonsystemic, nonhierarchical bioethics that encompasses the kinship of humans, animals, and machines.

About this title

About the Author

Joanna Zylinska is Professor of New Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is the author of Bioethics in the Age of New Media and the coauthor (with Sarah Kember) of Life After New Media: Mediation as a Vital Process, both published by the MIT Press.

Review

"Zylinska's profound and vibrant criticism of the often unreflective and managerial culture of bio-ethics is as intelligent as it is timely. Working from a deeply philosophical insight into theories of life, Zylinska develops her important work on ethics in the age of new media to provide a stunning intervention into this lively field of inquiry. Although this book is essential reading for anyone working in bioethics, applied ethics, and new media, it is also illuminating and engaging for anyone interested in theory and cultural studies. This will prove to be a landmark text in its capacity to be informed by philosophy while remaining attentive to popular debates and discourses."--Claire Colebrook, Department of English Literature, University of Edinburgh

"Should we respect a carrot? This and many other thought-provoking questions are asked by Joanna Zylinska in this radical attempt at constructing a new ethics of life. Drawing from Foucault and Agamben's notion of biopolitics, Zylinska examines such timely issues as the role of narcissism in blogging, the parallels between extreme makeover shows and concentration camps, and the rebranding of biology that resulted from spinning DNA as 'the secret of life.' Zylinska's extraordinary viewpoint challenges us to rethink what we mean by life, and how we might choose to respond to it."--Chris Bateman, game Designer, philosopher, and author

Edition details

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0262240564
• ISBN 13: 9780262240567
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 230