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Product Identifiers

PublisherHarvard University Press

ISBN-100674987721

ISBN-139780674987722

eBay Product ID (ePID)14038726353

Product Key Features

Number of Pages336 Pages

LanguageEnglish

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

SubjectEthics, Ethics & Professional Responsibility, Ethics & Moral Philosophy, General

Publication Year2020

TypeTextbook

AuthorO. Carter. Snead

Subject AreaLaw, Philosophy, Medical

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1.1 in

Item Weight17.7 Oz

Item Length8.7 in

Item Width5.8 in

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LCCN2020-011111

Dewey Edition23

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., 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., 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., 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., 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 valuable resource for people eager to understand how abortion law changed so quickly in less than one generation., [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.

Dewey Decimal344.7304194

SynopsisA leading expert on public bioethics advocates for a new conception of human identity in American law and policy. The natural limits of the human body make us vulnerable and therefore dependent, throughout our lives, on others. Yet American law and policy disregard these stubborn facts, with statutes and judicial decisions that presume people to be autonomous, defined by their capacity to choose. As legal scholar O. Carter Snead points out, this individualistic ideology captures important truths about human freedom, but it also means that we have no obligations to each other unless we actively, voluntarily embrace them. Under such circumstances, the neediest must rely on charitable care. When it is not forthcoming, law and policy cannot adequately respond. What It Means to Be Human makes the case for a new paradigm, one that better represents the gifts and challenges of being human. Inspired by the insights of Alasdair MacIntyre and Charles Taylor, Snead proposes a vision of human identity and flourishing that supports those who are profoundly vulnerable and dependent--children, the disabled, and the elderly. To show how such a vision would affect law and policy, he addresses three complex issues in bioethics: abortion, assisted reproductive technology, and end-of-life decisions. Avoiding typical dichotomies of conservative-versus-liberal and secular-versus-religious, Snead recasts debates over these issues and situates them within his framework of embodiment and dependence. He concludes that, if the law is built on premises that reflect the fully lived reality of life, it will provide support for the vulnerable, including the unborn, mothers, families, and those nearing the end of their lives. In this way, he argues, policy can ensure that people have the care they need in order to thrive. In this provocative and consequential book, Snead rethinks how the law represents human experiences so that it might govern more wisely, justly, and humanely., 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., One of the Wall Street Journal 's Top Ten Books of the Year A leading expert on public bioethics advocates for a new conception of human identity in American law and policy. The natural limits of the human body make us vulnerable and therefore dependent, throughout our lives, on others. Yet American law and policy disregard these stubborn facts, with statutes and judicial decisions that presume people to be autonomous, defined by their capacity to choose. As legal scholar O. Carter Snead points out, this individualistic ideology captures important truths about human freedom, but it also means that we have no obligations to each other unless we actively, voluntarily embrace them. Under such circumstances, the neediest must rely on charitable care. When it is not forthcoming, law and policy cannot adequately respond. What It Means to Be Human makes the case for a new paradigm, one that better represents the gifts and challenges of being human. Inspired by the insights of Alasdair MacIntyre and Charles Taylor, Snead proposes a vision of human identity and flourishing that supports those who are profoundly vulnerable and dependent--children, the disabled, and the elderly. To show how such a vision would affect law and policy, he addresses three complex issues in bioethics: abortion, assisted reproductive technology, and end-of-life decisions. Avoiding typical dichotomies of conservative-versus-liberal and secular-versus-religious, Snead recasts debates over these issues and situates them within his framework of embodiment and dependence. He concludes that, if the law is built on premises that reflect the fully lived reality of life, it will provide support for the vulnerable, including the unborn, mothers, families, and those nearing the end of their lives. In this way, he argues, policy can ensure that people have the care they need in order to thrive. In this provocative and consequential book, Snead rethinks how the law represents human experiences so that it might govern more wisely, justly, and humanely.

LC Classification NumberKF390.5.H85S64 2020

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What It Means to Be Human : The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics by O. Carter. Snead (2020, Hardcover)

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