From manufacturing to medicine, nanotechnology implies revolutionary change. However, the sweeping changes wrought by a technological advance of this magnitude are likely to come at a price that includes unforeseen environmental impact, disruptions in industry, displacement of workers, and deeply controversial applications of the technology and its offspring.

Nanotechnology: Ethics and Society provides a conceptually clear and straightforward ethical framework, in which pragmatic questions can be raised regarding the impact of nano-related technologies. The book...