BIOETHICS BIBLIOGRAPHY by Alex Epstein
Jul 01, 2003
"If you are interested in learning more about the current state of 'bioethics,' I recommend five books as a starting point. Two are by biotech 'doomsayers,' two by academic bioethicists, and one by a biotech enthusiast. Please note that, given the corrupt current state of bioethics, I do not recommend any of these books as sources of truth—with the partial exception of Gregory Stock's Redesigning Humans—but as books that illustrate and illuminate the problems with today's bioethicists."
— Alex Epstein, author of "Biotech vs. Bioethics: The Technology of Life Meets the Morality of Death," TIA, July 2003.
The most important book in modern academic medical ethics and bioethics. While the book deals predominantly with traditional medical ethics concretes rather than controversies like cloning or germline engineering, its methodological and moral premises are equally applicable (and are being applied by other bioethicists) to the latest controversies.
Sponsored by the Human Genome Project, this book, which purports to be "the first systematic treatment of the fundamental ethical issues underlying the application of genetic technologies to human beings," analyzes biotechnology from the collectivist perspective of "social justice."
This book is a mixture of good and bad. The author is highly skilled at explaining the scientific facts behind various biotechnologies and refuting many of the horror scenarios its enemies conjure up. Additionally, he offers a convincing account of the beneficent process by which new biotechnologies will be adopted: responsible, rational parents looking out for the best interests of themselves and their children, gradually adopting technologies as they become safe. But these virtues are undermined by the author's moral subjectivism and implicit acceptance of determinism.
Buy Redesigning Humans now.
To read Alex Epstein's article "Biotech vs. 'Bioethics': The Technology of Life Meets the Morality of Death," buy the TIA back issue with the full article.
