A Rich Bioethics

Adam Briggle

Description

Several presidents have created bioethics councils to advise their administrations on the importance, meaning and possible implementation or regulation of rapidly developing biomedical technologies. From 2001 to 2005, the President’s Council on Bioethics, created by President George W. Bush, was under the leadership of Leon Kass. The Kass Council, as it was known, undertook what Adam Briggle describes as a more rich understanding of its task than that of previous councils. The council sought to understand what it means to advance human flourishing at the intersection of philosophy, politics, science, and technology within a democratic society.

Briggle’s survey of the history of U.S. public bioethics and advisory bioethics commissions, followed by an analysis of what constitutes a “rich” bioethics, forms the first part of the book. The second part treats the Kass Council as a case study of a federal institution that offered public, ethical advice within a highly polarized context, with the attendant charges of inappropriate politicization and policy irrelevance. The conclusion synthesizes the author’s findings into a story about the possible relationships between philosophy and policy making.

A Rich Bioethics: Public Policy, Biotechnology, and the Kass Council will attract students and scholars in bioethics and the fields of science, technology, and society, as well as those interested in the ethical and political dilemmas raised by modern science.

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Éthique et morale
• Public Policy
• Moral Philosophy
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• PHILOSOPHY
• Philosophie et théologie
• The President's Council on Bioethics
• Leon Kass
• General officer
• Ethics
• General

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 15 juin 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268075781
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

A R I C H B I O E T H I C S

Notre Dame Studies in Medical Ethics David Solomon, series editor

The purpose of the Notre Dame Studies in Medical Ethics series, sponsored by the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, is to publish works that specifically address contemporary issues in the field of medicine. The aim is to foster a systematic and rational discussion of medical ethical problems grounded in Catholic intellectual tradition and moral vision.

A R I C H B I O E T H I C S

Public Policy, Biotechnology,

and the Kass Council

A D A M B R I G G L E

University of Notre Dame Press

Notre Dame, Indiana

Copyright © 2010 by University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 www.undpress.nd.edu All Rights Reserved

Publishedin the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Briggle, Adam. A rich bioethics : public policy, biotechnology, and the Kass Council / Adam Briggle. p. cm. — (Notre Dame studies in medical ethics) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-268-02221-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-268-02221-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Kass Council (U.S.) 2. Bioethics — Government policy —United States — Case studies. 3. Bioethics —Philosophy. 4. Science and state —United States. I. Title. QH332. B745 2010 174'.9570973 — dc22 2010007654

∞The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

To Mary Grace:

with hope that you and your generation will

be wiser than your father and his.

Nature to be commanded must be obeyed.

—Francis Bacon,Novum Organum

Book I, Aphorism 3

CONTENTS

PA R T I

O N E

T W O

T H R E E

F O U R

PA R T I I

F I V E

S I X

S E V E N

Acknowledgments

Introduction: An Experiment in Public Bioethics

Rich Public Bioethics and the Kass Council

Public Bioethics and the Birth of the Kass Council

The Deeper History of the Kass Council

In Defense of Rich Public Bioethics I: Self and Society

In Defense of Rich Public Bioethics II: Mind and Body

The Politics and Policy of Public Bioethics

The Kass Council as Institution and Lightning Rod

The Politicization of Ethics Advice

The Kass Council as Humanities Policy

Conclusion: Public Philosophy in a Liberal Democracy

Notes Works Cited Index

ix

1

13

39

61

87

115

131

149

167

180

195

214

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work has evolved tremendously from its humble origins first as a seminar paper and then a Ph.D. thesis. Throughout this evolution I have benefited from the wise counsel, steadfast commitment, and good cheer of my col- leagues, friends, and family. I was hesitant to pursue this project because American bioethics and science policy can be acrimonious affairs. I was afraid that I might be chewed up and spit out. Instead, I have had the good fortune to en- counter only thoughtful, open-minded people in the course of my research. I believe this is because nearly everyone involved realizes the importance of these issues and wants above all to make a contribution to a serious and civil conversation about the ethics and politics of our world- transforming scientific knowledge and technological pow- ers. I hope that this book will advance that conversation. I wish to express my gratitude to everyone who has contributed to the profoundly educational experience of crafting this book. I am forever indebted to my friend and mentor Robert Frodeman, who diligently critiqued numer- ous versions of this text and provided insight and inspira- tion. His wisdom is matched only by the nobility of his soul, and often as we talked, dangling our feet in the clear and refreshing waters of Boulder Creek, I felt like the young Phaedrus with the great philosopher. Insofar as it succeeds in meeting the challenges of interdisciplinarity, this book is as much his as it is mine. I am also deeply grateful for the friendship and profes- sional mentoring of Carl Mitcham. It has been my distinct

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