About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherHarvard University Press

ISBN-100674278763

ISBN-139780674278769

eBay Product ID (ePID)13057242698

Product Key Features

Number of Pages336 Pages

Publication NameWhat It Means to Be Human : the Case for the Body in Public Bioethics

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2022

SubjectEthics, Ethics & Professional Responsibility, Ethics & Moral Philosophy, American Government / General

TypeTextbook

Subject AreaLaw, Philosophy, Political Science, Medical

AuthorO. Carter. Snead

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.9 in

Item Weight13 Oz

Item Length8.2 in

Item Width5.5 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceCollege Audience

ReviewsA landmark work at the intersection of moral and political philosophy that prompts a re-evaluation of law, public policy, and even societal attitudes in our country., Illuminates the ways in which our flawed anthropology--our wrongheaded ideas about what it means to be human--negatively affects our bioethics...The lengthy section on abortion alone is worth the price of admission., Snead makes it clear that simply debating the morality of abortion, euthanasia, and assisted reproduction is not sufficient...We have to ground our definitions, debates, and catechisms in anthropology, in what it means to be human. If we are to love and defend our weak, vulnerable, and dependent neighbors, we ought also remember that we, too, will be weak, vulnerable, and dependent someday. This is what being human is, and our laws and policies should reflect it., A book rich in scholarship but for a much wider audience than scholars. The content of our bioethics will shape the course of our human future. That's what makes this book so valuable., What It Means to Be Human belongs on the desk of anyone concerned about the challenges ahead in the field of public bioethics. After taking a hard look at the flawed assumptions that shape most of today's thinking, Snead outlines an approach firmly grounded in the complexity of human experience., Public bioethics has for too long labored under the illusion that its purpose is to maximize individual choice. Snead shows how this results in policies that are hostile to human beings as they actually are: essentially embodied, ever dependent on others, flourishing only when loving and being loved. This is required reading., A rare achievement: a rigorous academic book that is also accessible, engaging, and wise...By sketching out an ethic of mutual obligation rooted in our common vulnerabilities, the book opens a path toward a more humane society...Among the most important works of moral philosophy produced so far in this century., [A] penetrating analys[is]s of modern bioethics and culture with a strong to arms to reorient ourselves and polity to moral sanity., With insight and provocation, Snead, a bioethicist, examines the questions that abortion raises about the meaning of human life., Doesn't mire itself in the latest bioethics debates, most of which have become dizzyingly complex in the past few years. Instead, it returns us, not a moment too soon, to a discussion of first principles...Advance[s] an anthropological framework for understanding human beings (and for devising laws and policies) that takes birth and death, youth and age, ability and limits--essentially the embodied self--into account., O. Carter Snead has written a brilliantly insightful book about how American law has enshrined individual autonomy as the highest moral good. He suggests an alternative foundation for contemporary bioethics, based on an understanding of human beings as social creatures, embedded in mutually dependent physical bodies. Highly thought-provoking., This remarkable and insightful account of contemporary public bioethics and its individualist assumptions is indispensable reading for anyone with bioethical concerns. Whether you agree or disagree with Snead's perspective, all will be in his debt for this critical work., One of the world's leading bioethicists...Snead issues a thought-provoking challenge to our modern legal regime that is premised upon a misconception of the human person., A valuable resource for people eager to understand how abortion law changed so quickly in less than one generation., Faulty anthropology makes for faulty law, especially when the subject is human life itself. Through a meticulous analysis of American legal cases touching the beginnings and ends of life, O. Carter Snead demonstrates how our entire approach to bioethical matters ironically ignores the lived reality and value of human embodiment, pointing the way to a richer approach that will promote social solidarity. A most significant achievement!

Dewey Edition23

Dewey Decimal344.7304194

SynopsisA Wall Street Journal Top Ten Book of the Year A First Things Books for Christmas Selection Winner of the Expanded Reason Award "A brilliantly insightful book about how American law has enshrined individual autonomy as the highest moral good...Highly thought-provoking." --Francis Fukuyama, author of Identity "This important work of moral philosophy argues that we are, first and foremost, embodied beings, and that public policy must recognize the limits and gifts that this entails." -- Wall Street Journal "This remarkable and insightful account of contemporary public bioethics and its individualist assumptions is indispensable reading for anyone with bioethical concerns." --Alasdair MacIntyre, author of After Virtue The natural limits of the human body make us vulnerable and therefore dependent on others. Yet law and policy concerning biomedical research and the practice of medicine frequently disregard these stubborn facts. What It Means to Be Human makes the case for a new paradigm, one that better reflects the gifts and challenges of being human. O. Carter Snead proposes a framework for public bioethics rooted in a vision of human identity and flourishing that supports those who are profoundly vulnerable and dependent--children, the disabled, and the elderly. He addresses three complex public matters: abortion, assisted reproductive technology, and end-of-life decisions. Avoiding typical dichotomies of conservative-liberal and secular-religious, Snead recasts debates within his framework of embodiment and dependence. He concludes that if the law is built on premises that reflect our lived experience, it will provide support for the vulnerable, including mothers, families, and the unborn. In this way, policy can ensure that people have the care they need to thrive., American law assumes that individuals are autonomous, defined by their capacity to choose, and not obligated to each other. But our bodies make us vulnerable and dependent, and the law leaves the weakest on their own. O. Carter Snead argues for a paradigm that recognizes embodiment, enabling law and policy to provide for the care that people need., A Wall Street Journal Top Ten Book of the Year A First Things Books for Christmas Selection Winner of the Expanded Reason Award "This important work of moral philosophy argues that we are, first and foremost, embodied beings, and that public policy must recognize the limits and gifts that this entails." -- Wall Street Journal The natural limits of the human body make us vulnerable and dependent on others. Yet law and policy concerning biomedical research and the practice of medicine frequently disregard these stubborn facts. What It Means to Be Human makes the case for a new paradigm, one that better reflects the gifts and challenges of being human. O. Carter Snead proposes a framework for public bioethics rooted in a vision of human identity and flourishing that supports those who are profoundly vulnerable and dependent--children, the disabled, and the elderly. He addresses three complex public matters: abortion, assisted reproductive technology, and end-of-life decisions. Avoiding typical dichotomies of conservative-liberal and secular-religious, Snead recasts debates within his framework of embodiment and dependence. He concludes that if the law is built on premises that reflect our lived experience, it will provide support for the vulnerable. "This remarkable and insightful account of contemporary public bioethics and its individualist assumptions is indispensable reading for anyone with bioethical concerns." --Alasdair MacIntyre, author of After Virtue "A brilliantly insightful book about how American law has enshrined individual autonomy as the highest moral good...Highly thought-provoking." --Francis Fukuyama, author of Identity

LC Classification NumberKF390.5.H85S64 2022