文档介绍：The Case against Perfection
The Case against
Perfection
ETHICS IN THE AGE OF
IC ENGINEERING
Michael J. Sandel
THE BELKNAP PRESS OF
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England
2007
Copyright © 2007 by Michael J. Sandel
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sandel, Michael J.
The case against perfection : ethics in the age of ic
engineering / Michael J. Sandel.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-674-01927-0 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-674-01927-X (alk. paper)
1. ic engineering—Moral and ethical aspects. I. Title.
2007
174′.957—dc22 2006039327
For Adam and Aaron
Acknowledgments
My interest in ethics and biotechnology was
prompted by an unexpected invitation, in late
2001, to serve on the newly formed President’s
Council on Bioethics. Although I am not a profes-
sional bioethicist, I was intrigued by the prospect of
thinking my way through controversies over stem
cell research, cloning, and ic engineering in
pany of a distinguished group of scientists,
philosophers, theologians, physicians, legal schol-
ars, and public policy experts. I found the discus-
sions enormously stimulating and intellectually in-
tense, so much so that I decided to pursue some of
the topics in my teaching and writing. Leon Kass,
who chaired the council during the four years I
served, was largely responsible for the high level of
the discussions. Although he and I have strong
philosophical and political differences, I admire
Leon’s unerring eye for important questions and
vii
acknowledgments
am grateful to him for having embroiled the coun-
cil, and me, in far-reaching bioethical inquiries the
likes of which few governmental bodies undertake.
One of the questions that most intrigued me
concerned the ethics of ic enhancement. I
wrote a short discussion paper on the subject for
the council, and,