Joachim Schummer
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262012621
- eISBN:
- 9780262255301
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262012621.003.0008
- Subject:
- Biology, Bioethics
This chapter explores the ideas and emotions about the creation of life from the earliest times to the present. It argues that both fascination and abhorrence regarding the creation of life have a ...
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This chapter explores the ideas and emotions about the creation of life from the earliest times to the present. It argues that both fascination and abhorrence regarding the creation of life have a common religious basis. It illustrates that there were no basic philosophical, scientific, ethical, or theological objections to spontaneous generation or artificial creation of life. This chapter shows that the whole project of the de novo synthesis of life appears to lack substantial justification regarding both improved understanding and beneficial products. It discusses an ethical vacuum about the creation of life that was filled only with quasi-moral surrogates.Less
This chapter explores the ideas and emotions about the creation of life from the earliest times to the present. It argues that both fascination and abhorrence regarding the creation of life have a common religious basis. It illustrates that there were no basic philosophical, scientific, ethical, or theological objections to spontaneous generation or artificial creation of life. This chapter shows that the whole project of the de novo synthesis of life appears to lack substantial justification regarding both improved understanding and beneficial products. It discusses an ethical vacuum about the creation of life that was filled only with quasi-moral surrogates.
Mark A. Bedau and Emily C. Parke (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262012621
- eISBN:
- 9780262255301
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262012621.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Bioethics
Teams of scientists around the world are racing to create protocells—microscopic, self-organizing entities that spontaneously assemble from simple organic and inorganic materials. The creation of ...
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Teams of scientists around the world are racing to create protocells—microscopic, self-organizing entities that spontaneously assemble from simple organic and inorganic materials. The creation of fully autonomous protocells—a technology that can, for all intents and purposes, be considered literally alive—is only a matter of time. This book examines the pressing social and ethical issues raised by the creation of life in the laboratory. Protocells might offer great medical and social benefits and vast new economic opportunities, but they also pose potential risks and threaten cultural and moral norms against tampering with nature and “playing God.” This book offers a variety of perspectives on these concerns. After a brief survey of current protocell research (including the much-publicized “top-down” strategy of J. Craig Venter and Hamilton Smith, for which they have received multimillion dollar financing from the U.S. Department of Energy), the chapters treat risk, uncertainty, and precaution; lessons from recent history and related technologies; and ethics in a future society with protocells. The discussions range from new considerations of the precautionary principle and the role of professional ethicists to explorations of what can be learned from society’s experience with other biotechnologies and the open-source software movement.Less
Teams of scientists around the world are racing to create protocells—microscopic, self-organizing entities that spontaneously assemble from simple organic and inorganic materials. The creation of fully autonomous protocells—a technology that can, for all intents and purposes, be considered literally alive—is only a matter of time. This book examines the pressing social and ethical issues raised by the creation of life in the laboratory. Protocells might offer great medical and social benefits and vast new economic opportunities, but they also pose potential risks and threaten cultural and moral norms against tampering with nature and “playing God.” This book offers a variety of perspectives on these concerns. After a brief survey of current protocell research (including the much-publicized “top-down” strategy of J. Craig Venter and Hamilton Smith, for which they have received multimillion dollar financing from the U.S. Department of Energy), the chapters treat risk, uncertainty, and precaution; lessons from recent history and related technologies; and ethics in a future society with protocells. The discussions range from new considerations of the precautionary principle and the role of professional ethicists to explorations of what can be learned from society’s experience with other biotechnologies and the open-source software movement.
Michael Ruse
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- October 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190241025
- eISBN:
- 9780190241056
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190241025.003.0015
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
With the 1960s interest in Darwinism came the evangelical religious reaction, with the rise of Creationism and related beliefs. The poets on both sides got involved, arguing in modern terms for ...
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With the 1960s interest in Darwinism came the evangelical religious reaction, with the rise of Creationism and related beliefs. The poets on both sides got involved, arguing in modern terms for different world visions – Philip Appleman, fiercely Darwinian and as fiercely anti-Christian, and Pattiann Rogers, as fiercely Christian (although more centrist than the evangelicals) trying out themes from the Book of Job as well as showing sympathy for the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead.Less
With the 1960s interest in Darwinism came the evangelical religious reaction, with the rise of Creationism and related beliefs. The poets on both sides got involved, arguing in modern terms for different world visions – Philip Appleman, fiercely Darwinian and as fiercely anti-Christian, and Pattiann Rogers, as fiercely Christian (although more centrist than the evangelicals) trying out themes from the Book of Job as well as showing sympathy for the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead.
