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A groundbreaking new exploration of the promises and perils of biotechnology -- and the future of American society.

Biotechnology offers exciting prospects for healing the sick and relieving suffering. But because our growing powers also enable alterations in the workings of the body and mind, they are becoming attractive to healthy people who would just like to look younger, perform better, feel happier, or become more "perfect."

This landmark book -- the product of more than sixteen months of research and reflection by the members of the President's Council on Bioethics -- explores the profound ethical and social consequences of today's biotechnical revolution. Almost every week brings news of novel methods for screening genes and testing embryos, choosing the sex and modifying the behavior of children, enhancing athletic performance, slowing aging, blunting painful memories, brightening mood, and altering basic temperaments. But we must not neglect the fundamental question: Should we be turning to biotechnology to fulfill our deepest human desires?

We want better children -- but not by turning procreation into manufacture or by altering their brains to gain them an edge over their peers. We want to perform better in the activities of life -- but not by becoming mere creatures of chemistry. We want longer lives -- but not at the cost of becoming so obsessed with our own longevity that we care little about future generations. We want to be happy -- but not by taking a drug that gives us happy feelings without the genuine loves, attachments, and achievements that are essential to true human flourishing. As we enjoy the benefits of biotechnology, members of the council contend, we need to hold fast to an account of the human being seen not in material or mechanistic or medical terms but in psychic, moral, and spiritual ones. By grasping the limits of our new powers, we can savor the fruits of the age of biotechnology without succumbing to its most dangerous temptations.

Beyond Therapy takes these issues out of the narrow circle of bioethics professionals and into the larger public arena, where matters of this importance rightly belong.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Members of the President's Council on Bioethics(p. xi)
• Foreword(p. xv)
• Preface(p. xix)
• 1. Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness(p. 1)
• I. The Golden Age: Enthusiasm and Concern(p. 4)
• II. The Case for Public Attention(p. 7)
• III. Defining the Topic(p. 10)
• IV. Ends and Means(p. 11)
• V. The Limitations of the "Therapy vs. Enhancement" Distinction(p. 13)
• VI. Beyond Natural Limits: Dreams of Perfection and Happiness(p. 17)
• VII. Structure of the Inquiry: The Primacy of Human Aspirations(p. 20)
• VIII. Method and Spirit(p. 22)
• Endnotes(p. 25)
• 2. Better Children(p. 27)
• I. Improving Native Powers: Genetic Knowledge and Technology(p. 30)
• A. An Overview(p. 30)
• B. Technical Possibilities(p. 32)
• 1. Prenatal Diagnosis and Screening Out(p. 34)
• 2. Genetic Engineering of Desired Traits ("Fixing Up")(p. 37)
• 3. Selecting Embryos for Desired Traits ("Choosing In")(p. 40)
• C. Ethical Analysis(p. 44)
• 1. Benefits(p. 46)
• 2. Questions of Safety(p. 47)
• 3. Questions of Equality(p. 51)
• 4. Consequences for Families and Society(p. 53)
• II. Choosing Sex of Children(p. 57)
• A. Ends and Means(p. 59)
• B. Preliminary Ethical Analysis(p. 61)
• C. The Limits of Liberty(p. 66)
• D. The Meaning of Sexuality and Procreation(p. 68)
• III. Improving Children's Behavior: Psychotropic Drugs(p. 71)
• A. Behavior Modification in Children Using Stimulants(p. 74)
• 1. What Are Stimulant Drugs?(p. 77)
• 2. Behaviors Inviting Improvement Through Stimulant Drugs(p. 79)
• 3. The "Universal Enhancer"(p. 83)
• B. Ethical and Social Concerns(p. 85)
• 1. Safety First(p. 86)
• 2. Rearing Children: The Human Context(p. 87)
• 3. Social Control and Conformity(p. 88)
• 4. Moral Education and Medicalization(p. 91)
• 5. The Meaning of Performance(p. 92)
• IV. Conclusion: The Meaning of Childhood(p. 94)
• Appendix Diagnostic Criteria for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder(p. 95)
• Endnotes(p. 98)
• 3. Superior Performance(p. 101)
• I. The Meaning of "Superior Performance"(p. 102)
• II. Sport and the Superior Athlete(p. 106)
• A. Why Sport?(p. 106)
• B. The Superior Athlete(p. 107)
• C. Different Ways of Enhancing Performance(p. 108)
• 1. Better Equipment(p. 109)
• 2. Better Training(p. 110)
• 3. Better Native Powers(p. 110)
• III. Muscle Enhancement Through Biotechnology(p. 111)
• A. Muscles and Their Meanings(p. 111)
• B. Muscle Cell Growth and Development(p. 113)
• C. Opportunities and Techniques for Muscle Enhancement(p. 115)
• IV. Ethical Analysis(p. 123)
• A. How Is Biotechnical Enhancement Different?(p. 124)
• B. Fairness and Equality(p. 131)
• C. Coercion and Social Pressure(p. 135)
• D. Adverse Side Effects: Health, Balance, and the Whole of Life(p. 137)
• E. The Dignity of Human Activity(p. 140)
• 1. The Meaning of Competition(p. 141)
• 2. The Relationship Between Doer and Deed(p. 143)
• 3. Acts of Humans, Human Acts: Harmony of Mind and Body(p. 145)
• F. Superior Performance and the Good Society(p. 151)
• Endnotes(p. 157)
• 4. Ageless Bodies(p. 159)
• I. The Meaning of "Ageless Bodies"(p. 160)
• II. Basic Terms and Concepts(p. 163)
• III. Scientific Background(p. 168)
• A. Targeting Specific Deficiencies of Old Age(p. 168)
• 1. Muscle Enhancement(p. 168)
• 2. Memory Enhancement(p. 169)
• B. General (Body-Wide) Age-Retardation(p. 172)
• 1. Caloric Restriction(p. 173)
• 2. Genetic Manipulations(p. 174)
• 3. Prevention of Oxidative Damage(p. 177)
• 4. Methods of Treating the Ailments of the Aged That Might Affect Age-Retardation(p. 178)
• a. Hormone treatments(p. 178)
• b. Telomere research(p. 179)
• IV. Ethical Issues(p. 181)
• A. Effects on the Individual(p. 183)
• 1. Greater Freedom from Constraints of Time(p. 187)
• 2. Commitment and Engagement(p. 187)
• 3. Aspiration and Urgency(p. 188)
• 4. Renewal and Children(p. 188)
• 5. Attitudes Toward Death and Mortality(p. 190)
• 6. The Meaning of the Life Cycle(p. 191)
• B. Effects on Society(p. 192)
• 1. Generations and Families(p. 194)
• 2. Innovation, Change, and Renewal(p. 195)
• 3. The Aging of Society(p. 196)
• V. Conclusion(p. 197)
• Endnotes(p. 203)
• 5. Happy Souls(p. 205)
• I. What Are "Happy Souls"?(p. 210)
• II. Memory and Happiness(p. 214)
• A. Good Memories and Bad(p. 218)
• B. Biotechnology and Memory Alteration(p. 221)
• C. Memory-Blunting: Ethical Analysis(p. 225)
• 1. Remembering Fitly and Truly(p. 228)
• 2. The Obligation to Remember(p. 230)
• 3. Memory and Moral Responsibility(p. 232)
• 4. The Soul of Memory, The Remembering Soul(p. 233)
• III. Mood and Happiness(p. 234)
• A. Mood-Improvement Through Drugs(p. 239)
• 1. Mood-Brightening Agents: An Overview(p. 240)
• 2. Biological and Experiential Effects of SSRIs(p. 243)
• B. Ethical Analysis(p. 251)
• 1. Living Truly(p. 252)
• 2. Fitting Sensibilities and Human Attachments(p. 255)
• 3. What Sorrow Teaches, What Discontent Provokes(p. 258)
• 4. Medicalization of Self-Understanding(p. 261)
• 5. The Roots of Human Flourishing(p. 264)
• 6. The Happy Self and the Good Society(p. 266)
• IV. Conclusion(p. 268)
• Endnotes(p. 271)
• 6. "Beyond Therapy": General Reflections(p. 275)
• I. The Big Picture(p. 275)
• II. Familiar Sources of Concern(p. 279)
• A. Health: Issues of Safety and Bodily Harm(p. 279)
• B. Unfairness(p. 280)
• C. Equality of Access(p. 281)
• D. Liberty: Issues of Freedom and Coercion, Overt and Subtle(p. 283)
• III. Essential Sources of Concern(p. 286)
• A. Hubris or Humility: Respect for "the Given"(p. 287)
• B. "Unnatural" Means: The Dignity of Human Activity(p. 290)
• C. Identity and Individuality(p. 293)
• D. Partial Ends, Full Flourishing(p. 295)
• IV. Biotechnology and American Society(p. 301)
• A. Commerce, Regulation, and the Manufacture of Desire(p. 303)
• B. Medicine, Medicalization, and a Stance "Beyond Therapy"(p. 305)
• C. Biotechnology and American Ideals(p. 308)
• Endnotes(p. 311)
• Bibliography(p. 313)
• Council Staff and Consultants(p. 329)

Extracto provisto por Syndetics

Beyond Therapy Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness Chapter One Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness: An Introduction What is biotechnology for? Why is it developed, used, and esteemed? toward what ends is it taking us? To raise such questions will very likely strike the reader as strange, for the answers seem so obvious: to feed the hungry, to cure the sick, to relieve the suffering -- in a word, to improve the lot of humankind, or, in the memorable words of Francis Bacon, "to relieve man's estate." Stated in such general terms, the obvious answers are of course correct. But they do not tell the whole story, and, when carefully considered, they give rise to some challenging questions, questions that compel us to ask in earnest not only, "What is biotechnology for?" but also, "What should it be for?" Before reaching these questions, we had better specify what we mean by "biotechnology," for it is a new word for our new age. Though others have given it both narrow and broad definitions,* our purpose-for reasons that will become clear -- recommends that we work with a very broad meaning: the processes and products (usually of industrial scale) offering the potential to alter and, to a degree, to control the phenomena of life-in plants, in (non-human) animals, and, increasingly, in human beings (the last, our exclusive focus here). Overarching the processes and products it brings forth, biotechnology is also a conceptual and ethical outlook, informed by progressive aspirations. In this sense, it appears as a most recent and vibrant expression of the technological spirit, a desire and disposition rationally to understand, order, predict, and (ultimately) control the events and workings of nature, all pursued for the sake of human benefit. Thus understood, biotechnology is bigger than its processes and products; it is a form of human empowerment. By means of its techniques (for example, recombining genes), instruments (for example, DNA sequencers), and products (for example, new drugs or vaccines), biotechnology empowers us human beings to assume greater control over our lives, diminishing our subjection to disease and misfortune, chance and necessity. The techniques, instruments, and products of biotechnology -- like similar technological fruit produced in other technological areasaugment our capacities to act or perform effectively, for many different purposes. just as the automobile is an instrument that confers enhanced powers of "auto-mobility' (of moving oneself), which powers can then be used for innumerable purposes not defined by the machine itself, so DNA sequencing is a technique that confers powers for genetic screening that can be used for various purposes not determined by the technique; and synthetic growth hormone is a product that confers powers to try to increase height in the short or to augment muscle strength in the old. If we are to understand what biotechnology is for, we shall need to keep our eye more on the new abilities it provides than on the technical instruments and products that make the abilities available to us! This terminological discussion exposes the first complication regarding the purposes of biotechnology: the fact that means and ends are readily detached from one another. As with all techniques and the powers they place in human hands, the techniques and powers of biotechnology enjoy considerable independence from ties to narrow or specific goals. Biotechnology, like any other technology, is not for anything in particular. Like any other technology, the goals it serves are supplied neither by the techniques themselves nor by the powers they make available, but by their human users. Like any other means, a given biotechnology once developed to serve one purpose is frequently available to serve multiple purposes, including some that were not imagined or even imaginable by those who brought the means into being. Second, there are several questions regarding the overall goal of biotechnology: improving the lot of humankind. What exactly is it about the lot of humankind that needs or invites improvement? Should we think only of specific, as-yet-untreatable diseases that compromise our well-being, such ailments as juvenile diabetes, cancer, or Alzheimer disease? Should we not also include mental illnesses and infirmities, from retardation to major depression, from memory loss to melancholy, from sexual incontinence to self-contempt? And should we consider in addition those more deep-rooted limitations built into our nature, whether of body or mind, including the harsh facts of decline, decay, and death? What exactly is it about "man's estate" that most calls for relief? just sickness and suffering, or also such things as nastiness, folly, and despair? Must "improvement" be limited to eliminating these and other evils, or should it also encompass augmenting our share of positive goods-beauty, strength, memory, intelligence, longevity, or happiness itself? Third, even assuming that we could agree on which aspects of the human condition call for improvement, we would still face difficulties deciding how to judge whether our attempts at improving them really made things better-both for the individuals and for the society. Some of the goals we seek might conflict with each other: longer life might come at the price of less energy; superior performance for some might diminish self-esteem for others. Efforts to moderate human aggression might wind up sapping ambition; interventions aimed at quieting discontent might flatten aspiration. And, unintended consequences aside, it is not easy to say just how much less aggression or discontent would be good for us. Once we go beyond the treatment of disease and the pursuit of health, there seem to be no ready-made or reliable standards of better and worse available to guide our choices. As this report will demonstrate, these are not idle or merely academic concerns. Indeed, some are already upon us. We now have techniques to test early human embryos for the presence or absence of many genes: shall we use these techniques only to prevent disease or also to try to get us "better" children? We are acquiring techniques for boosting muscle strength and performance: shall we use them only to treat muscular dystrophy and the weak muscles of the elderly ... Beyond Therapy Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness . Copyright © by Leon Kass. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness by Leon Kass All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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CHOICE Review

Rather than focusing on the treatment of disease, this report deals with the use of biotechnology to satisfy people's wants and desires. It addresses four major areas: better children, ageless bodies, superior performance, and happier souls. The core chapters on these subjects have a similar structure. After addressing what it might mean to have, e.g., "better children," the authors describe some of the current technologies available. An ethical analysis follows, along with reflections on what adoption of this technology might mean for both individuals and society as a whole. The final chapter examines common themes and also serves as a useful summary. Instead of approving or disapproving particular uses of biotechnology, this book raises questions that individuals and societies must answer. It challenges readers to think about their own humanity and about how embracing an "obvious" good might, perhaps, make people and society less human. In their own view of humanity, the authors embrace evolutionary origins, but they also acknowledge and value humanity's spiritual component. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. General readers, undergraduates, and professionals/practitioners. R. Seelke University of Wisconsin--Superior