Religion is a dominant force in the lives of many Americans. It animates, challenges, directs and shapes, as well, the legal, political, and scientific agendas of the new Age of Biotechnology. In a very real way, religion, biomedical technology and law are - epistemologically - different. Yet, they are equal vectors of force in defining reality and approaching an understanding of it. Indeed, all three share a synergetic relationship, for they seek to understand and improve the human condition.

This book strikes a rich balance between thorough analysis (in the body), anchored in...

This book presents a critical analysis of the debate in Muslim countries at the religious, legal and political level, sparked by the introduction of new biomedical technologies such as cloning, genetics, organ transplants and in vitro fertilisation. The book draws on law, sociology, anthropology, politics and the history of science. For this reason it will be of interest to scholars and operators in a wide variety of disciplines and fields.

The book analyzes attitudes to people with various disabilities based on Muslim jurists' works in the Middle Ages and the modern era. Very little has been written so far on people with disabilities in a general Islamic context, much less in reference to Islamic law. The main contribution of the book is that it focuses on people with disabilities and depicts the place and status that Islamic law has assigned to them.

What does just health care imply? Does it mean that people have a right to health care? Does it entail that there are rights-based social obligations to provide equal access to health care for everyone? And if so, why? Why are health care interests so important that they deserve special protection? What kind of social good is health care? What are its functions and do these make it different from other commodities? Furthermore, how much equality should there be in health care? What inequalities are morally acceptable and how should the burdens of achieving equality be distributed? Which...

This book presents the findings of a study into the social shaping of reproductive genetics in Germany and Israel, two exceptionally interesting social settings, which share a traumatic history.

Based on a variety of empirical materials (including in-depth interviews with genetic counsellors and survey data on their practices and opinions, as well as analysis of legal, religious, professional and media texts), the study reveals dramatic differences between the way that the German and Israeli societies address the question of a life (un)worthy of living: while in Germany, social,...

This book provides an in-depth analysis of the ethical, social and philosophical issues related to modern genetic research and gene technology. The aim of the book is to introduce systematic research on the social and ethical impacts of the use and development of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as well as the acquisition, use and storage of human genetic information (HGI). The book has been written from the viewpoint of social and political philosophy.

A theory of Clinical Bioethics based on the integration of the moral logic of health care practice ("internal morality") and the larger social concerns and processes ("external morality")

Clinical Bioethics. A Search for the Foundations compares major theoretical models in the foundation of clinical bioethics and explains medicine as a normative practice. The goals of medicine are discussed with particular reference to the subjectivisation of health and the rationalisation of health care institutions. This volume provides a consistent reconstruction of bioethical judgment both at...