Human Dignity in Bioethics (Routledge Annals of Bioethics) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415659310 ISBN 13: 9780415659314

Publisher: Routledge, 2013

Synopsis

Human Dignity in Bioethics brings together a collection of essays that rigorously examine the concept of human dignity from its metaphysical foundations to its polemical deployment in bioethical controversies. The volume falls into three parts, beginning with meta-level perspectives and moving to concrete applications.

Part 1 analyzes human dignity through a worldview lens, exploring the source and meaning of human dignity from naturalist, postmodernist, Protestant, and Catholic vantages, respectively, letting each side explain and defend its own conception. Part 2 moves from metaphysical moorings to key areas of macro-level influence: international politics, American law, and biological science. These chapters examine the legitimacy of the concept of dignity in documents by international political bodies, the role of dignity in American jurisprudence, and the implications―and challenges―for dignity posed by Darwinism. Part 3 shifts from macro-level topics to concrete applications by examining the rhetoric of human dignity in specific controversies: embryonic stem cell research, abortion, human-animal chimeras, euthanasia and palliative care, psychotropic drugs, and assisted reproductive technologies. Each chapter analyzes the rhetorical use of ‘human dignity’ by opposing camps, assessing the utility of the concept and whether a different concept or approach can be a more productive means of framing or guiding the debate.

About this title

About the Author

Stephen Dilley is Associate Professor of Philosophy at St. Edward’s University, USA.

Nathan J. Palpant is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Washington’s Institute, USA.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0415659310
• ISBN 13: 9780415659314
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 396
• Editor: Dilley Stephen, Cherry Mark, Palpant Nathan J., Iltis Ana S.