From Chance to Choice
Genetics and Justice

A treatment of the fundamental ethical issues underlying the application of genetic technologies to humans, first published in 2000.

Allen Buchanan (Author), Dan W. Brock (Author), Norman Daniels (Author), Daniel Wikler (Author)

9780521669771, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 12 November 2001

414 pages, 1 b/w illus.
23.1 x 15.1 x 2.4 cm, 0.56 kg

'The authors of this book, all renowned bioethicists, make a remarkable attempt to help professionals grow in moral wisdom. … as an updated systematic survey of genetics-related moral questions, this will remain for years a very useful point of reference for professionals in philosophy, bioethics, law and political science.' The Heythrop Journal

This book, written by four internationally renowned bioethicists and first published in 2000, was the first systematic treatment of the fundamental ethical issues underlying the application of genetic technologies to human beings. Probing the implications of the remarkable advances in genetics, the authors ask how should these affect our understanding of distributive justice, equality of opportunity, the rights and obligations as parents, the meaning of disability, and the role of the concept of human nature in ethical theory and practice. The book offers a historical context to contemporary debate over the use of these technologies by examining the eugenics movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The questions raised in this book will be of interest to any reflective reader concerned about science and society and the rapid development of biotechnology, as well as to professionals in such areas as philosophy, bioethics, medical ethics, health management, law, and political science.

1. Introduction
2. Eugenics and its shadow
3. Genes, justice, and human nature
4. Positive and negative genetic interventions
5. Reproductive freedom and the prevention of harm
6. Why not the best?
7. Genetic intervention and the morality of inclusion
8. Policy implications
Appendix 1. The meaning of genetic causation, by Elliott Sober
Appendix 2. Methodology
References.

Subject Areas: Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ]