Human Embryos, Human Beings
Human Embryos, Human Beings

Author: Samuel B. Condic

Publisher: CUA Press

Published: 2018-06-29

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 0813230233

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A tale of two ontologies : are humans designated or discovered?. - Ontology and embryos : on being an embryo. - Arguments from ontology : it can't be human because it contradicts, ontologically. - Arguments from potential : it can't be human because it contradicts, factually. - Arguments from observation : it could be human, but the facts suggest otherwise. - Developmental systems theory and fuzzy organisms : it's not human until we say it's human. - The postmodern connection : form, fiat, and intention. - Humans and organization : defining the hallmarks of human existence. - Some difficult cases : a practical guide for evaluation. - A contested case : altered nuclear transfer : how to evaluate entities produced by experimenters. - Metaphysics matters.

Is this Cell a Human Being?
Is this Cell a Human Being?

Author: Antoine Suarez

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2011-08-03

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 3642207723

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The central question of this book is whether or not particular cell entities of human origin ought to be considered human beings. The answer is crucial for making moral decisions for or against research and experimentation. Experts in the field discuss the production of embryonic-like pluripotent stem cells by altered nuclear transfer, parthenogenesis and reprogramming of adult somatic cells. They thoroughly analyse the biological and moral status of different cell entities, such as human stem cells, embryos and human-animal hybrid embryos, and make a decisive step towards establishing final criteria for what constitutes a human being. The topic is challenging in nature and of broad interest to all those concerned with current bioethical thought on embryonic human life and its implications for society.

Icons of Life
Icons of Life

Author: Lynn Morgan

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2009-09-09

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 0520944720

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Icons of Life tells the engrossing and provocative story of an early twentieth-century undertaking, the Carnegie Institution of Washington's project to collect thousands of embryos for scientific study. Lynn M. Morgan blends social analysis, sleuthing, and humor to trace the history of specimen collecting. In the process, she illuminates how a hundred-year-old scientific endeavor continues to be felt in today's fraught arena of maternal and fetal politics. Until the embryo collecting project-which she follows from the Johns Hopkins anatomy department, through Baltimore foundling homes, and all the way to China-most people had no idea what human embryos looked like. But by the 1950s, modern citizens saw in embryos an image of "ourselves unborn," and embryology had developed a biologically based story about how we came to be. Morgan explains how dead specimens paradoxically became icons of life, how embryos were generated as social artifacts separate from pregnant women, and how a fetus thwarted Gertrude Stein's medical career. By resurrecting a nearly forgotten scientific project, Morgan sheds light on the roots of a modern origin story and raises the still controversial issue of how we decide what embryos mean.

Untangling Twinning
Untangling Twinning

Author: Maureen L. Condic

Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess

Published: 2020-02-28

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 0268107076

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Scientists and philosophers have long struggled to answer the questions of when human life begins and when human life has inherent value. The phenomenon of identical (monozygotic) twinning presents a significant challenge to the view that human life and human personhood begin at conception. The fact that a single embryo can split to generate two (or more) genetically identical embryos seems to defy the notion that prior to splitting an embryo can be a single human individual. In Untangling Twinning, Maureen Condic looks at the questions raised by human twinning based on a unique synthesis of molecular developmental biology and Aristotelian philosophy. She begins with a brief historical analysis of the current scientific perspective on the embryo and proceeds to address the major philosophic and scientific concerns regarding human twinning and embryo fusion: Is the embryo one human or two (or even more)? Does the original embryo die, and if not, which of the twins is the original? Who are the parents of the twins? What do twins, chimeras, cloning, and asexual reproduction in humans mean? And what does the science of human embryology say about human ensoulment, human individuality, and human value? Condic's original approach makes a unique contribution to the discussion of human value and human individuality, and offers a clear, evidence-based resolution to questions raised by human twinning. The book is written for students and scholars of bioethics, scientists, theologians, and attorneys who are involved in questions surrounding the human embryo.

Embryo
Embryo

Author: Robert P. George

Publisher:

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 9780981491141

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Draws on current scientific research and moral philosophy to shed new light on the debate over abortion and stem-cell research, and maintains that, from the moment of conception, embryos are entitled to the full protection of the law.

Cloning and the Future of Human Embryo Research
Cloning and the Future of Human Embryo Research

Author: Paul Lauritzen

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 9780195128581

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The possibility that human beings may soon be cloned has generated enormous anxiety and fueled a vigorous debate about the ethics of contemporary science. Unfortunately, much of this debate about cloning has treated cloning as singular and revolutionary. The essays in Cloning and the Future of Human Embryo Research place debates about cloning in the context of reproductive technology and human embryo research. Although novel, cloning is really just the next step in a series of reproductive interventions that began with in vitro fertilization in 1978. Cloning, embryo research, and reproductive technology must therefore be discussed together in order to be understood. The authors of this volume bring these topics together by examining the status of preimplantation embryos, debates about cloning and embryo research, and the formulation of public policy. The book is distinctive in framing cloning as inextricably tied to embryo research and in offering both secular and religious perspectives on cloning and embryo research.

The Image of God, Personhood and the Embryo
The Image of God, Personhood and the Embryo

Author: Calum MacKellar

Publisher: SCM Press

Published: 2017-04-25

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0334055210

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Why are human embryos so important to many Christians? What does theology say concerning the moral status of these embryos? Answers to these questions can only be obtained by considering the manner in which Christian theology understands the great theme of the image of God. This book examines the most important aspects in which this image, and the related Christian notion of personhood, can be used in the context of theological arguments relating to the moral status of the human embryo. Thoughtful in approach and ecumenical in perspective, the author combines a thorough knowledge of the science of embryology with a broad knowledge of the theological implications. Part I Historical and Contemporary Christian Perspectives 1 The Moral Status of the Embryo 2 The Image of God 3 Being a Person from a Christian Perspective Part II The Image of God, Personhood and the Embryo 4 Creation and the Embryo 5 Incarnation and the Embryo 6 Substantive Aspects and the Embryo 7 Relational Aspects and the Embryo 8 Functional Aspects and the Embryo Conclusion Appendix: The Moral Status of New Kinds of Embryo

Aquinas on the Beginning and End of Human Life
Aquinas on the Beginning and End of Human Life

Author: Fabrizio Amerini

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2013-06-10

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 0674073460

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In contemporary discussions of abortion, both sides argue well-worn positions, particularly concerning the question, When does human life begin? Though often invoked by the Catholic Church for support, Thomas Aquinas in fact held that human life begins after conception, not at the moment of union. But his overall thinking on questions of how humans come into being, and cease to be, is more subtle than either side in this polarized debate imagines. Fabrizio Amerini—an internationally-renowned scholar of medieval philosophy—does justice to Aquinas’ views on these controversial issues. Some pro-life proponents hold that Aquinas’ position is simply due to faulty biological knowledge, and if he knew what we know today about embryology, he would agree that human life begins at conception. Others argue that nothing Aquinas could learn from modern biology would have changed his mind. Amerini follows the twists and turns of Aquinas’ thinking to reach a nuanced and detailed solution in the final chapters that will unsettle familiar assumptions and arguments. Systematically examining all the pertinent texts and placing each in historical context, Amerini provides an accurate reconstruction of Aquinas’ account of the beginning and end of human life and assesses its bioethical implications for today. This major contribution is available to an English-speaking audience through translation by Mark Henninger, himself a noted scholar of medieval philosophy.

Embryos Under the Microscope
Embryos Under the Microscope

Author: Jane Maienschein

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2014-05-20

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 0674725557

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Jane Maienschein examines how understanding of embryos evolved from the speculations of natural philosophers to bioengineering, with its life-enhancing therapies. She shows that research on embryos has always seemed promising to some but frightening to others, and makes the case that public understanding must be informed by scientific findings.

Stem Cells and the Future of Regenerative Medicine
Stem Cells and the Future of Regenerative Medicine

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2002-01-25

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13: 0309170427

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Recent scientific breakthroughs, celebrity patient advocates, and conflicting religious beliefs have come together to bring the state of stem cell researchâ€"specifically embryonic stem cell researchâ€"into the political crosshairs. President Bush's watershed policy statement allows federal funding for embryonic stem cell research but only on a limited number of stem cell lines. Millions of Americans could be affected by the continuing political debate among policymakers and the public. Stem Cells and the Future of Regenerative Medicine provides a deeper exploration of the biological, ethical, and funding questions prompted by the therapeutic potential of undifferentiated human cells. In terms accessible to lay readers, the book summarizes what we know about adult and embryonic stem cells and discusses how to go about the transition from mouse studies to research that has therapeutic implications for people. Perhaps most important, Stem Cells and the Future of Regenerative Medicine also provides an overview of the moral and ethical problems that arise from the use of embryonic stem cells. This timely book compares the impact of public and private research funding and discusses approaches to appropriate research oversight. Based on the insights of leading scientists, ethicists, and other authorities, the book offers authoritative recommendations regarding the use of existing stem cell lines versus new lines in research, the important role of the federal government in this field of research, and other fundamental issues.