The Future of Human Nature (eBook)

Jürgen Habermas (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2014 | 1. Auflage
136 Seiten
John Wiley & Sons (Verlag)
978-0-7456-9271-5 (ISBN)

Infos

Recent developments in biotechnology and genetic research are
raising complex ethical questions concerning the legitimate scope
and limits of genetic intervention. As we begin to contemplate the
possibility of intervening in the human genome to prevent diseases,
we cannot help but feel that the human species might soon be able
to take its biological evolution in its own hands. 'Playing
God' is the metaphor commonly used for this
self-transformation of the species, which, it seems, might soon be
within our grasp.

In this important new book, Jürgen Habermas - the
most influential philosopher and social thinker in Germany today
- takes up the question of genetic engineering and its
ethical implications and subjects it to careful philosophical
scrutiny. His analysis is guided by the view that genetic
manipulation is bound up with the identity and self-understanding
of the species. We cannot rule out the possibility that knowledge
of one's own hereditary factors may prove to be restrictive
for the choice of an individual's way of life and may
undermine the symmetrical relations between free and equal human
beings.

In the concluding chapter - which was delivered as a
lecture on receiving the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade for
2001 - Habermas broadens the discussion to examine the
tension between science and religion in the modern world, a tension
which exploded, with such tragic violence, on September 11th.

Autor

Jürgen Habermas is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Frankfurt. He was awarded the Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels 2001.

Inhalt

Publisher's Note.

Foreword.

Are There Postmetaphysical Answers to the Question: What is the
"Good Life"?.

The Debate on the Ethical Self-Understanding of the Species.

I Moralizing Human Nature?.

II Human Dignity versus the Dignity of Human Life.

III The Embedding of Morality in an Ethics of the Species.

IV The Grown and the Made.

V Natality, the Capacity of Being Oneself, and the Ban on
Instrumentalization.

VI The Moral Lmits of Eugenics.

VII Setting the Pace for a Self-instrumentalization of the
Species?.

Postscript.

Faith and Knowledge.

Notes.

Rezensionen

"Thoughtful and stimulating."

Times Literary Supplement



"A rich introduction to current ethical thinking in Europe and
to the relevance of philosophy to society."

Canadian Medical Association Journal

"When a philosopher of the stature of Jurgen Habermas makes an
intervention into contemporary genetics it pays to sit up and
listen. Habermas has produced this short but sharp analysis on the
ethical sides of genetic engineering and technology that never seem
to be discussed at any length by professional philosophers."

Disability and Society

This book is of particular interest for two sorts of reasons.
For those interested in bioethics, it contains a genuinely new set
of arguments for placing serious restrictions on using prenatal
genetic technologies to "enhance" offspring. And for those
interested in Habermas's moral philosophy, it contains a number of
new developments in his "discourse ethics" - not the least of which
is a willingness to engage in applied ethics at all. It is greatly
to Habermas's credit that he has squarely faced this issue, depsite
the fundamental challenge it poses for discourse ethics."

Ethics
"When one of the most famous living philosophers takes a stand on
certain moral dilemmas that arise from the current boom in
developments in the bio-sciences, it is natural that it should
provoke great interest."

Radical Philosophy

"Habermas' thoughtful and self-critical contribution reads like
the start of an important conversation."

Jon Turney, Times Higher Education Supplement

"A very useful source of philosophical understanding of these
issues."

Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law

"We are fortunate to have Jurgen Habermas writing about
bioethics. His intelligence, moral seriousness and intellectual
sophistication make him an exemplary figure on the Left."

Mark Blitz, Claremont Review of Books

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.10.2014
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Ethik
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Philosophie der Neuzeit
• Themenwelt: Medizin / Pharmazie ► Medizinische Fachgebiete ► Medizinethik
• Themenwelt: Studium ► Querschnittsbereiche ► Geschichte / Ethik der Medizin
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften
• Schlagworte: ethics • Ethik • Philosophie • Philosophie in den Naturwissenschaften • Philosophy • philosophy of science
• ISBN-10: 0-7456-9271-0 / 0745692710
• ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-9271-5 / 9780745692715