Other Great Resources for This Event
When you engage with The Connecticut Forum we want you to become immersed in event subject matter. We want you to benefit from the experience. To help in that process we're providing you with a series of resources in the form of bios, books, websites and articles that will help you to understand the perspectives of our panelists and popular opinions in the U.S. and around the world. Enjoy!
Arthur Caplan
Francis Fukuyama
Gina Kolata
Lisa Sowle Cahill
Other Books on Bioethics
Organizations
Articles and Reports
Arthur Caplan
Health, Disease, and Illness: Concepts in Medicine
by Arthur L. Caplan, James J. McCartney, Dominic A. Sisti, Edmund D., MD. Pellegrino
Paperback: 311 pages
Publisher: Georgetown University Press; (June 1, 2004)
ISBN: 1589010140
Amazon.com:
Historically one can see that health, disease, and illness are concepts that have been ever fluid. Modern science, sociology, philosophy, even society--among other factors--constantly have these issues under microscopes, learning more, defining and redefining ever more exactly. Yet often that scrutiny, instead of leading toward hard answers, only leads to more questions. HEALTH, DISEASE, AND ILLNESS brings together a sterling list of classic and contemporary thinkers to examine the history, state, and future of ever-changing "concepts" in medicine.
Divided into four parts--Historical Discussions; Characterizing Health, Disease, and Illness; Clinical Applications of Health and Disease; and Normalcy, Genetic Disease, and Enhancement: The Future of the Concepts of Health and Disease--the reader can see the evolutionary arc of medical concepts from the Greek physician Galen of Pergamum (ca. 150 CE) who proposed that "the best doctor is also a philosopher," to contemporary discussions of the genome and morality. The editors have recognized a crucial need for a deeper integration of medicine and philosophy with each other, particularly in an age of dynamically changing medical science--and what it means, medically, philosophically, to be human.
Am I My Brother's Keeper?: The Ethical Frontiers of Biomedicine (Medical Ethics Series)
by Arthur L. Caplan
Hardcover: 241 pages
Publisher: Indiana University Press; (January 1, 1998)
ISBN: 025333358X
From Library Journal:
In this collection of essays, Caplan (director, Ctr. for Bioethics, Univ. of Pennsylvania), a prolific author and an internationally recognized expert in the field of bioethics, discusses current bioethical controversies, including assisted reproduction, artificial hearts, fetal tissue transplantation, the potential use of animals as organ donors, living organ donors, assisted suicide, eugenics, cloning, and the definition of death and disease. Caplan provides a brief overview of each topic, summarizes current arguments surrounding the controversy, then offers his opinion.
Due Consideration : Controversy in the Age of Medical Miracles
by Arthur Caplan
Paperback: 296 pages
Publisher: Wiley Text Books; (October 16, 1997)
ISBN: 047118344X
From Kirkus Reviews:
Quick takes on a slew of biomedical-ethics issues in down-to-earth, sometimes downright slangy, let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may prose. Caplan (If I Were a Rich Man I Could Buy a Pancreas and Other Essays on Medical Ethics, not reviewed), a leading bioethicist and director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, has the common touch when it comes to pointing out the implications of the numerous sticky problems modern medicine has generated. He has grouped his essays into 11 categories, including abortion and birth control, genetics, technological reproduction, managed care, starting and stopping care, and assisted suicide. Many of these short pieces had their beginnings as newspaper columns, and it shows. The lead-in is often punchy: "Abortion kills"; "Quit blubbering"; "America is a nation loony over individual liberty." The language is often flippant: Sex offenders are "certified kooks" and "creeps," Dr. Kevorkian is a "phony," a "dangerous nut" waging a "euthansia jihad"; Congress is filled with "blockheads." The trigger for each story is often a headline of the day, such as Mickey Mantle's speedy liver transplant, O.J. Simpson's acquittal in the face of damning DNA evidence, or presidential candidate Bob Dole's "gonzo views" on tobacco. All this no doubt lent these pieces immediacy at the time, but it now makes them seem a bit dated. Further, editing to combine some of these short pieces would have eliminated unnecessary repetition. While the brevity of these essays is often disconcerting, Caplan is alert to new and developing problems, swift at getting to what he sees as the heart of an issue, and emphatic in his opinions. Provocative and accessible. High-school teachers take note: Here's an approachable way to get the kids thinking. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Assisted Suicide: Finding Common Ground
by Lois Snyder, Arthur L. Caplan
Hardcover: 248 pages
Publisher: Indiana University Press; (December 15, 2001)
ISBN: 0253339774
Book Description from Amazon.com:
There is no constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide says the US Supreme Court. Some states allow it, as Oregon has done, and others are considering legalization. Yet there has been very little guidance offered to date about its practice.
This book fills that void. Its chapters, by a diverse group of experts--some for, some against--provide a framework for thinking about what assisted suicide, particularly physician-assisted suicide, is and how its legalized practice might be guided. Although the book does not take a position on the morality or wisdom of legalizing assisted suicide, it does try to find common ground on real world concerns in this important continuing debate.
Who Owns Life?
by David Magnus, Arthur L. Caplan, Glenn McGee
Hardcover: 300 pages
Publisher: Prometheus Books; (April 1, 2002)
ISBN: 1573929867
From Book News, Inc.:
Now that the privatization feeding frenzy is reaching people's bodies and the genes of their potential children, scholars of biological and medical sciences, philosophy, law, and social sciences look ahead to predict who will end up owning people--probably a few biotechnology companies--and whether or not this is a good idea for anyone but those companies.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
The Ethics of Organ Transplants: The Current Debate (Contemporary Issues (Buffalo, N.Y.).)
by Arthur L. Caplan, Arthur Caplan, Daniel H. Coelho
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Prometheus Books; (March 1, 1999)
ISBN: 1573922242
From Book News, Inc.
In 34 mostly recent articles, bioethicists, medical, legal, and cultural analysts confront the difficult issues engulfing organ sources, policies, commodification, and values: defining death, the use of fetal tissue, living donors, xenografting, selling and allocating organs. The bibliography includes web sites. No index. Book News, Inc.®, Portland, OR
Moral Matters: Ethical Issues in Medicine and the Life Sciences
by Arthur Caplan
Paperback: 210 pages
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; (August 1, 1994)
ASIN: 0471105619
From the publisher, John Wiley & Sons
This topical book is designed to make you think. The majority of issues examined in the text consist of moral dilemmas that could happen to anyone. Each chapter contains essays that are brimming with opinions, and every essay presents an argument(s) in support of those views. Honing your ethical skills by thinking critically about these essays will help you reflect more clearly about the moral challenges and ethical puzzles which will inevitably arise in your life.
Prescribing Our Future: Ethical Challenges in Genetic Counseling
by Dianne M. Bartels, Bonnie S. Leroy, Arthur L. Caplan
Hardcover: 186 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.53 x 8.98 x 6.04
Publisher: Aldine de Gruyter; (June 1, 1993)
ISBN: 0202304531
If I Were a Rich Man Could I Buy a Pancreas? : And Other Essays on the Ethics of Health Care (Medical Ethics Series)
by Arthur L. Caplan
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Indiana University Press; (June 1, 1992)
ISBN: 0253313074
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Francis Fukuyama
State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century
by Francis Fukuyama
Hardcover: 160 pages
Publisher: Cornell University Press; (May 2004)
ISBN: 0801442923
From Publishers Weekly:
This slim volume, derived from lectures Fukuyama presented at Cornell in 2003, picks up one of the loose threads from his decade-old The End of History and the Last Man. He asserts that the lack of "organizational tradition" in "failed or weak" nations such as Afghanistan and Haiti represents the greatest threat to an orderly world. He argues that the United States, and the West in general, after rightly intervening in such states either militarily or economically (most often through the IMF or World Bank), have failed to transfer institutional and public- and private-sector know-how to needy countries. The goal is to "create self-sustaining state institutions that can survive the withdrawal of outside intervention," though Fukuyama acknowledges that the developed world has failed, setting people up for "large disappointments." The author quickly surveys other recent theories-Sen, Kagan, Huntington-and concludes that the answer lies in providing states with internal organizational structure and, above all, with a culture that enables strong leaders and government institutions to enforce capitalist and free-market values. Since he sees the "international community" represented by the United Nations as a myth because it lacks a military, the mantle of leadership must be worn by the U.S., at great risk to itself. While Fukuyama's ideas will no doubt be much discussed, parts of this book are too technical to appeal to a broad readership. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution
by Francis Fukuyama
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Picador USA; 1st Picado edition (May 1, 2003)
ISBN: 0312421710
Amazon.com:
Maybe we have a future after all: Our Posthuman Future is political historian Francis Fukuyama's reconsideration of his 1989 announcement that history had reached an end. He claims that science, particularly genome studies, offers radical changes, possibly more profound than anything since the development of language, in the way we think about human nature. He makes his case thoroughly and eloquently, rarely dipping into philosophical or critical jargon and consistently maintaining an informal tone.
Fukuyama is deeply concerned about the erosion of the foundations of liberal democracy under pressure from new concepts of humans and human rights, and most readers will find some room for agreement. Ultimately, he argues for strong international regulation of human biotechnology and thoughtfully disposes of the most compelling counterarguments. While readers might not agree that we're at risk of creating Huxley's Brave New World, it's hard to deny that things are changing quickly and that perhaps we ought to consider the changes before they're irrevocable. --Rob Lightner
The End of History and the Last Man
by Francis Fukuyama
Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Perennial; Reprint edition (February 1, 1993)
ISBN: 0380720027
From Publishers Weekly:
In a broad, ambitious work of political philosophy, a three-week PW bestseller in cloth, Fukuyama asserts that history is directional and that its endpoint is capitalist liberal democracy.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Gina Kolata
Ultimate Fitness: The Quest for Truth about Health and Exercise
by Gina Bari Kolata, Gina Kolata
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux; (April 1, 2003)
ISBN: 0374204772
Book Description from Amazon.com:
Ultimate Fitness: The Quest for Truth About Exercise and Health is Gina Kolata’s compelling journey into the world of American physical fitness over the past thirty years. It is a funny, eye-opening, brow-sweating investigation into the fads, fictions, and science of fitness training.
From the early days of jogging, championed by Jim Fixx— who later died of a heart attack—to weight lifting, cycling, aerobics, and Spinning, Kolata questions such popular notions as the “fat-burning zone” and “spot reducing,” the effects of food on performance, how much exercise helps build fitness, and the difference between exercise to help the heart and exercise to change the body. She explains the science of physical fitness and the objective evidence behind commonly accepted prescriptions. Along the way she profiles researchers and mavericks who have challenged conventional wisdom, marketed their inventions, and sometimes bucked criticism only to back down from their original claims.
Ultimate Fitness spotlights the machines and machinations of the fitness industry, and cuts through the marketing and hype not only to assess what is healthy, but also to understand what our obsession with staying healthy says about American culture today.
Flu : The Story Of The Great Influenza Pandemic
by Gina Kolata
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Touchstone (January 9, 2001)
ISBN: 0743203984
From Amazon.com:
When we think of plagues, we think of AIDS, Ebola, anthrax spores, and, of course, the Black Death. But in 1918 the Great Flu Epidemic killed an estimated 40 million people virtually overnight. If such a plague returned today, taking a comparable percentage of the U.S. population with it, 1.5 million Americans would die. In Flu, Gina Kolata, an acclaimed reporter for The New York Times, unravels the mystery of this lethal virus with the high drama of a great adventure story. From Alaska to Norway, from the streets of Hong Kong to the corridors of the White House, Kolata tracks the race to recover the live pathogen and probes the fear that has impelled government policy. A gripping work of science writing, Flu addresses the prospects for a great epidemic's recurrence and considers what can be done to prevent it.
Clone: The Road to Dolly, and the Path Ahead
by Gina Bari Kolata
Hardcover: 276 pages
Publisher: William Morrow & Company; 1st ed edition (January 1, 1998)
ASIN: 0688156924
From Amazon.com:
In February 1997 a group of Scottish livestock scientists announced that they had cloned a lamb using a cell from an adult sheep. "When the time comes to write the history of our age, this quiet birth, the creation of this little lamb, will stand out," says award-winning science writer Gina Kolata. In Clone, she gives a clear account of the technical background to Dolly's birth, but what makes the book really shine is her coverage of the history and social conflicts of cloning. She weaves stories of fraud, scandal, irreproducible results, and pig-headed determination into a solid framework of philosophy, science, and ethics.
Sex in America
by Gina Kolata, Edward Laumann, Robert T Michael
Paperback: 312 pages
Publisher: Warner Books (September 1, 1995)
ISBN: 0446671835
Book Description from Amazon.com:
Based on interviews with over 3,000 Americans, this book provides startling information about American sexual practices--exploding longstanding myths and divulging the truth about what goes on between the sexes.
The Baby Doctors
by Gina Kolata
Paperback
Publisher: Dell (October 5, 1991)
ASIN: 0440210119
From Publishers Weekly
Blood and urine tests, amniocentesis and sonogram techniques are used to detect fetal abnormalities, which may then be treated with surgery or medication. Successful and unsuccessful cases are discussed by New York Times medical reporter Kolata, as is the controversial practice of "selective reduction" in multiple pregnancies. PW called this an "engrossing, edifying account." Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Lisa Sowle Cahill
Bioethics and the Common Good (The Pere Marquette Lecture in Theology, 2004)
by Lisa Sowle Cahill
Hardcover
Publisher: Marquette University Press; (March 1, 2004)
ISBN: 087462584X
From Book News, Inc.
Cahill's essay traces the development of social bioethics over the past three decades and considers a current, significant problem for Catholic bioethics as an ethics of the common good: practicability. She uses the example of the AIDS crisis to show how such a bioethical system is being put into practice.
Family: A Christian Social Perspective
by Lisa Sowle Cahill
Paperback: 170 pages
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers; (August 1, 2000)
ISBN: 0800632524
Book Description from Amazon.com:
Cahill’s important work brings fresh historical, theological, and ethical thought to the explosive area of family—deeply contested territory in today’s cultural and religious skirmishes.
In the religious arena, evangelical-conservative vs. mainline-feminist lines echo larger social battles, contesting the authentic meaning of family within a Christian framework. Though “family” has been dissected in the academic and cultural wars, Cahill asserts that the usual religious agenda of restoring the traditional nuclear family is actually misinformed and misguided. It bolsters oppressive social, economic, and racial mechanisms that are destroying families at the bottom, middle, and even top of the ladder. Is there an authentically Christian notion of family? Cahill’s contribution shows in a striking way how very different were counter-cultural New Testament and early-church notions of family from our ideas of “family values;” how, throughout history, other influential Christian examples have emerged in the work of John Chrysostom, Martin Luther, and the Puritans; how, despite distortion by gender and class divisions, there develops a Christian vision of the altruistic family, animated by Christian discipleship to stand for compassion, generosity, and justice; how pertinent this vision of the “domestic church” is to public debate and public policy.
Love Your Enemies: Discipleship, Pacifism, and Just War Theory
by Lisa Sowle Cahill
Paperback: 252 pages
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers (March 1, 1997)
ISBN: 0800627008
From Ingram:
The author examines the theological bases of just war theory and pacifism, especially in the light of the concept of God, as that motif illuminates Christian discipleship. Differences between the theory of just war and the practice of pacifism are highlighted in the overview of the history of Christian thought on the subject, and the inclusiveness of the ideal of the kingdom for pacifism is emphasized.
Sex, Gender, and Christian Ethics (New Studies in Christian Ethics)
by Lisa Sowle Cahill, Robin Gill (Editor)
Paperback: 348 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press; (August 28, 1996)
ISBN: 0521578485
Between the Sexes: Foundations for a Christian Ethics of Sexuality
by Lisa Sowle Cahill
Paperback: 166 pages
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers; (April 1, 1985)
ISBN: 0800618343
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Other books on Bioethics:
Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity: The Challenge for Bioethics
by Leon R. Kass
Hardcover: 313 pages
Publisher: Encounter Books; 1st edition (September 1, 2002)
ISBN: 1893554554
From Publishers Weekly:
For many people, the brave new world of biotechnology promises a utopian society where we will be free from diseases because of our manipulation of the genetic code. According to Kass, chairman of President Bush's Council on Bioethics, this vision of the future involves dehumanization, because the fundamental principles of cloning and stem cell research involve altering our human nature so dramatically that we are no longer human but posthuman. Fundamental to our human nature, Kass contends, is our human dignity, "our awareness of need, limitation, and mortality to craft a way of being that has engagement, depth, beauty, virtue, and meaning." Modern biology, he argues, has persuaded us that our embodiment is a fact of life to be overcome through germline manipulation or other biotechnological techniques. Through stimulating examinations of genetic research, cloning and active euthanasia, Kass makes a case that, in spite of its many promises, biotechnology has left humanity out of its equation, often debasing human dignity rather than celebrating it. In the end, he calls for a new bioethics and a new biology that will provide "an ethical account of human flourishing based on a biological account of human life as lived, not just physically, but psychically, socially and spiritually." Although some will object to Kass's importing the spiritual into the biological, his cry will strike others as a clarion call to protect human freedom from the excesses of biotechnology. Still others will be wary of his influence on the present administration.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Redesigning Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future
by Gregory Stock
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company; 1st edition (June 15, 2002)
ISBN: 061806026X
Amazon.com:
Will the genetic research that gave us the Flavr Savr tomato also give us the power to customize our children? Medical thinker Gregory Stock believes that this is precisely what's happening and that we'd better get used to it fast. Redesigning Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future explores gender selection, gene therapy, germinal choice, and many more options available now or in the near future, but lays aside the hysteria common to such discussions.
Stock sees the cloning controversy as a distraction from issues of real importance, such as balancing offspring trait selection against eugenics. Writing with the clarity and precision of a philosopher, Stock engages his readers with thought exercises and real-life examples. While not a brainless cheerleader for big science, he believes that we can, and certainly will, use any means necessary to give our children an edge, even if it means profound changes for our species. Redesigning Humans offers the hope that these changes need not be catastrophic if we pay attention now. --Rob Lightner
The Naked Clone : How Cloning Bans Threaten Our Personal Rights
by John Charles Kunich
Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: Praeger Publishers; (June 30, 2003)
ISBN: 0275979644
From Book News, Inc.:
Kunich (law, Roger Williams U.) argues the need for rational, scientific evaluations of reproductive and therapeutic cloning, before fear and misunderstanding lead to bans that could jeopardize personal liberties such as privacy, reproduction, and freedom of expression. Kunich offers that, properly understood, cloning is the same as other forms of assisted reproduction, and that widespread bans would threaten personal interests including abortion, in vitro fertilization, same-sex adoption, and surrogacy. The book includes coverage of current cloning law in the United States and worldwide.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc.,
Portland, OR
The Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy (Basic
Bioethics)
by Suzanne Holland, Karen Lebacqz, Laurie Zoloth
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Bradford Book; (September 1, 2001)
ISBN: 0262582082
From Publishers Weekly:
As President Bush tries to make up his mind over the stem cell controversy, the issue remains headline news. The Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy, edited by social ethics academics Suzanne Holland, Karen Lebacqz and Laurie Zoloth and third in MIT's Basic Bioethics series edited by Glenn McGee and Arthur Caplan, gathers 20 essays by scholars (including the editors) of theology, biology, medicine, medical and bioethics, philosophy and other disciplines. Fran‡oise Baylis discusses the National Bioethics Advisory Commission's recommendation that stem cell research be federally funded. Rabbi Elliott N. Dorff analyzes the debate through a Jewish theological lens. Thomas B. Okarma, president and CEO of Geron Corporation, a biotechnology corporation that initiated stem cell research in 1996, offers "A Primer on the Technology and Its Medical Applications." Others weigh in with Christian, Roman Catholic, historical, feminist, social justice and public policy perspectives. Three illus. Sept.)
The Stem Cell Controversy: Debating the Issues
by Michael Ruse, Christopher A. Pynes
Paperback: 308 pages
Publisher: Prometheus Books; (June 1, 2003)
ISBN: 1591020301
Amazon.com:
Philosophers Michael Ruse and Christopher A. Pynes have compiled this valuable collection of articles by noted experts to address all aspects of this question by examining one of today's most challenging and fiercely debated new areas of science. They explain the scientific research, explore the medical promise that it offers, and present the many sides of the ethical, religious, and policy debate. The contributors--scientists, medical practitioners, philosophers, theologicans, historians, and policy analysts--offer a variety of perspectives, to give readers the critical tools they need to shape an informed position on the topic. This important resource will be useful and accessible to educated readers with no prior knowledge of this contentious issue.
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Organizations
President’s Council on Bioethics
http://www.bioethics.gov/
Human Cloning and Human Dignity: An Ethical Inquiry
http://www.bioethics.gov/reports/cloningreport/index.html
National Institutes of Health
http://www.nih.gov/
Bioethics resources on the Web
http://www.nih.gov/sigs/bioethics/
Stem Cell Information
http://stemcells.nih.gov/index.asp
Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, Library and Information Services
http://www.georgetown.edu/research/nrcbl/bioethics/index.htm
National Academy of Sciences
http://www.nas.edu/
Statement by Academy President Bruce Alberts on Renewed U.N. Debate on a Proposed Global Ban on Cloning Research
http://www4.nas.edu/NAS/nashome.nsf/Multi+Database+Search/7BB582...
Stem Cells and the Future of Regenerative Medicine (2002)
http://www.nap.edu/books/0309076307/html/
Scientific and Medical Aspects of Human Reproductive Cloning (2002)
http://www.nap.edu/books/0309076374/html/
University of Minnesota. Center for Bioethics
http://www.bioethics.umn.edu/
American Society of Bioethics and Humanities
http://www.asbh.org/resources/publications/library.htm
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Articles and Reports
Public Agenda: Medical Research
The nonpartisan, nonprofit Public Agenda and the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation—best known for its prestigious medical research awards—have launched a comprehensive online guide to issues in medical research. This excellent resource provides balanced data, survey results, extensive resource lists, and news at the heart of debate over funding, genetic testing and engineering, bioethics, informed consent and related topics.
http://www.publicagenda.com/issues/frontdoor.cfm...
Bioethics (a definition) by Ann Quigley, Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health,
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gGENH/is_/ai_2699003084
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This resource information has been prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.