Table Of ContentThe Biological Foundations of Bioethics
The Biological
Foundations of
Bioethics
Tim Lewens
1
3
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For Emma
Acknowledgements
Theessayscollectedinthisvolumewerewrittenbetween2001and2014.
Notesineachchapteracknowledgethepeoplewhowerekindenoughto
read and comment on particular pieces of work. I also have debts of
amoregeneralsorttocolleagues andfriends whohavehelpedmeover
longer stretches of time. Within Cambridge I have learned most about
the issues examined here from Joanna Burch-Brown, Nick Jardine,
Stephen John, Elselijn Kingma, Kathy Liddell, Hallvard Lillehammer,
the late Peter Lipton, Neil Manson, Onora O’Neill, Martin Peterson,
Martin Richards, Alix Rogers, and Ron Zimmern. I also owe much to
the Department of History and Philosophy of Science as a whole (and
therebytoJohnForrester,TamaraHug,andDavidThompson,whohave
madetheinstitutionrunsosmoothly),andtoClareCollege.
Since 2009 I have had the wonderful experience of working as a
member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics. While I have benefited
immeasurably from the knowledge of other members of the Council,
I am especially grateful to Laura Riley, Hugh Whittall, and Katharine
Wright,who,asmembersoftheCouncil’sdistinguishedsecretariat,have
deftly helped steer the two working parties I have been involved with,
and who have taught me about human bodies and mitochondrial ther-
apiesintheprocess.
PeterMomtchiloffatOxfordUniversityPresshasbeensupportiveand
efficient throughout the process of putting this book together, and an
externalreaderforOUPofferedvaluableandgenerouscommentsonthe
newerpartsofthemanuscript.Workonsomeofthemiddlechaptersof
this book was supported by grants from the Leverhulme Trust and the
IsaacNewtonTrust.IamalsogratefultotheEuropeanResearchCoun-
cil, whose generous funding under the European Union’s Seventh
Framework Programme (ERC Grant agreement no. 284123) gave me
thetimetowriteallofthemorerecentchapters(1,4,5,6,and11),andto
compilethemintotheformpresentedhere.Forhelpwithallthesetasks,
fromresearchtoredaction,IhaveaconsiderabledebttoBethHannon,a
farmoreaccomplishedcolleaguethananyonecouldreasonablyhopefor.
Finally, Emma Gilby, to whom these pages are dedicated, has enriched
myworkandmuchmorebesides.
Texts and Permissions
Previouslypublishedarticleshavebeenchangedonlyincosmeticwaysto
correct typographical errors and to ensure consistency in style. I am
grateful to the following presses for permissions to re-use my earlier
workinthisbook:
ToBMJPublishingGroupforpermissiontore-use‘Enhancementand
HumanNature:TheCaseofSandel’,firstpublishedinJournalofMedical
Ethics35(2009),pp.354–6.
ToTaylorandFrancisforpermissiontore-use‘TheRisksofProgress:
Precaution and the Case of Human Enhancement’, first published in
JournalofRiskResearch13(2010),pp.207–16.
ToSpringerforpermissiontore-use‘HumanNature:TheVeryIdea’,
firstpublishedinPhilosophyandTechnology25(2012),pp.459–74.
To Elsevier for permission to re-use ‘From Bricolage to BiobricksTM:
Synthetic Biology and Rational Design’, first published in Studies in
History andPhilosophyof Biological andBiomedical Sciences 44(2013),
pp. 641–8; and ‘Development Aid: On Ontogeny and Ethics’,first pub-
lishedinStudiesinHistoryandPhilosophyofBiologicalandBiomedical
Sciences33(2002),pp.195–217.
ToCambridgeUniversityPressforpermissiontore-use‘Prospectsfor
EvolutionaryPolicy’,firstpublishedinPhilosophy78(2003),pp.496–514.
To John Wiley and Sons for permission to re-use ‘What are Natural
Inequalities?’, first published in Philosophical Quarterly 60 (2010),
pp.264–85.
ToOxfordUniversityPressforpermissiontore-use‘FootNote’,first
publishedinAnalysis79(2010),pp.468–73.
