Brave New Words
A couple of thought-provoking articles dealing with the way genetic engineering has increasingly blurred the line between human and non-human… ah, creatures? entities?
1. The Thing Is
About the semantic bedevilments facing the Bioethics Council.
Also raises the very interesting issue about the use of the ‘yuck factor’ (or, more eloquently, the ‘wisdom of repugnance’) as a yardstick for moral boundaries. Quite a tricky thing to calibrate– consider all the various activities that at some point in the past were widely-regarded as ‘disgusting’ taboos but are now generally accepted, or even common-place (eg, interracial marriage, the creation of ‘test tube babies’, or even ah, eating shrimp [credit:MDA]). Nonetheless, it seems pretty much like that’s the measure we’re stuck with, since at some level morality comes down to inarticulable instinct.
2. Oy Vitae
“Jews vs Catholics in the Stem Cell Debate”
An interesting thesis, which invokes a ‘crystals and mud’ sort of dynamic [ie, certain clarity versus cautious ambiguity] in explaining how people from different religious backgrounds are predisposed to approach ethical questions in different ways.
