1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910452709003321

Titolo

Synthetic biology and morality : artificial life and the bounds of nature / / edited by Gregory E. Kaebnick and Thomas H. Murray

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge, Massachusetts : , : MIT Press, , [2013]

ISBN

0-262-31496-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (223 p.)

Collana

Basic bioethics

Disciplina

174.2

Soggetti

Bioethics

Bioengineering - Moral and ethical aspects

Synthetic biology - Moral and ethical aspects

Artificial life - Moral and ethical aspects

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; Series Foreword; Introduction; I The Human Relationship to Nature; 1 Appeals to Nature and the Natural in Debates about Synthetic Biology; 2 Creating Life: Synthetic Biology and Ethics; 3 Engineered Microbes in Industry and Science: A New Human Relationship to Nature?; II The Value of Synthetic Organisms; 4 Lessons from Environmental Ethics about the Intrinsic Value of Synthetic Life; 5 Three Puzzles Regarding the Moral Status of Synthetic Organisms; 6 Synthetic Bacteria, Natural Processes, and Intrinsic Value; III Values and Public Policy; 7 Synthetic Biology and Public Reason

8 Biotechnology as Cultural Meaning: Reflections on the Moral Reception of Synthetic Biology9 "Teaching Humanness" Claims in Synthetic Biology and Public Policy Bioethics; About the Authors; Index

Sommario/riassunto

Synthetic biology, which aims to design and build organisms that serve human needs, has potential applications that range from producing biofuels to programming human behaviour. The emergence of this new form of biotechnology, however, raises a variety of ethical questions - first and foremost, whether synthetic biology is intrinsically troubling in moral terms. Is it an egregious example of scientists 'playing God'? This book takes on this key ethical question, as well as others that follow, offering a range of philosophical and political perspectives on the



power of synthetic biology.