Controlling Our Destinies: Historical, Philosophical, Ethical, and Theological Perspectives on the Human Genome Project

572 Pages·2000·68.921 MB·English

by  Phillip R. Sloan (ed.)

Phillip R. Sloan, Editor
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2010
in
http://www.archive.org/details/controllingourdeOOsloa
Controlling
Our
Destinies
Studies in Science and the Humanities
from the Reilly Center
for Science, Technology, and Values
VOLUME
5
Controlling
Our
Destinies
Historical, Philosophical, Ethical,
AND Theological Perspectives
ON THE
Human Genome Project
Edited by
Phillip R. Sloan
University ofNotre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana
Copyright © 2000by
University ofNotre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
All RightsReserved
LibraryofCongress Cataloging-in-PublicationData
Controlling ourdestinies the Human Genome Projectfrom historical,
:
philosophical, social, andethical perspectives /edited by
PhillipR. Sloa—n.
p. cm. (Studies in science and the humanities from the
Reilly Centerfor Science, Technology, and Values ; v. 5)
Includes bibliographical references—and index.
ISBN 0-268-00818-3 (alk. paper). ISBN 0-268-00820-5 (pbk.
alk. paper)
1. Human Genome Project. I. Sloan, PhillipR. II. Series.
QH445.2.C65 1997
573.2'1-k1c20 96-9755
CIP
For my father, Reid Sloan, whofirst awakened my
interest in the intellectual life, andfor my mother, MaRee Sloan,
who taughtme whatdedication to ideals means.

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations x
Contributors xii
Acknowledgments xx
Preface xxii
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY:
1.
Completing the Tree of Descartes
Phillip R. Sloan 1
PART ONE: ORIGINS OF THE GENOME
PROJECT: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS 27
2. The Manhattan Project for Biomedicine
Timothy Lenoir and Marguerite Hays 29
3 Whose Work Shall We Trust? Genetics, Pedia-
.
trics, and Hereditary Diseases in Postwar France
Jean-Paul Gaudilliere 63
Commentary: Robert A. Bud 95
A Book of Life? How a Genetic Code Became
a Language
Lily E. Kay 99
Commentary: Hans-Jorg Rheinberger 125
iS^-Origins of the U.S. Human Genome Project: The
^ Changing Relationships Between Genetics and
National Security
John Beatty 131
^\ 6. Metaphors of Morality in the Human Genome
' Project
^ Alice Domurat Dreger 155
Vll
PART TWO: THE GENOME PROJECT AND
EUGENICS: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS 185
7. Defining the Defective: Eugenics, Esthetics, and
Mass Culture in Early Twentieth-Century America
Martin S. Pernick 187
at's Morally Wrong with Eugenics?
Arthur L. Caplan 209
Commentary: Timothy Murphy 223
Utopian Eugenics and Social Inequality
,_^^/:^
Philip Kitcfwr 229
Commentary: Diane R. Paul 263
PART THREE: IS A STRONG GENETIC
REDUCTIONIST PROGRAM POSSIBLE?:
INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS 269
10. Is There an Organism in This Text?
Evelyn Fox Keller 273
Commentary: Jean Gayon 291
vJpl1 Reductionism and Determinism in Human
.
5^ Genetics: Lessons from Simple Organisms
Kenneth F. Schajfner 301
Commentary: Edward Manier 327
PART FOUR: REDUCTIONISM, DETERMIN-
ISM AND THEOLOGICAL HUMANISM:
INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS 341
12. Relating Genetics to Theology on the Map of
Scientific Knowledge
Arthur R. Peacocke 343
vui