Overview
- Considers reservations about the ethics of choosing children
- Draws on ethicists outside the scope of orthodox bioethical thought
- Explores the implications of the idea of procreative beneficience
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Ethics and Public Policy (PASEPP)
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Table of contents (5 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
This book takes the contentious issue of designer babies and argues against the liberal eugenic current of bioethics that commends the logic and choice regimes of selective reproduction. Against conceptions of Procreative Beneficence that trade on a disregard for the gifts of maternal bodies, it seeks to recover a thought of maternal giving and a more hospitable ethic of generational beneficence. Exploring themes of responsibility, gift and natality, the book refigures the experience of reproduction as the site of an ethical response to future generations, where refusal to choose one’s children is one virtuous response. The book will appeal to anyone with an interest in reproductive ethics, feminist thought and those seeking principled grounds for resisting the technologies of choosing children.
Reviews
“This is a timely and challenging book. At a point in our biotechnological development when ‘choosing children’ is becoming technically feasible, it is vital to examine critically some of our most dearly held assumptions about normativity, choice and control. Simon Reader’s book extends the standard bioethical discussion of reproductive decision making beyond the realm of personal preferences to incorporate social, philosophical, historical and gendered perspectives that will enrich these collective deliberations.” (Jackie Leach Scully, Professor of Social Ethics and Bioethics, Newcastle University, UK)>
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Simon A. Reader is an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Politics, Philosophy, International Relations and Environment (SPIRE) at Keele University, UK, where he also teaches. Simon has also held the position of Research Associate at Lancaster University, where he completed his doctorate.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Ethics of Choosing Children
Authors: Simon Reader
Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Ethics and Public Policy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59864-2
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-59863-5Published: 20 September 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-86721-2Published: 11 August 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-59864-2Published: 02 September 2017
Series ISSN: 2946-2738
Series E-ISSN: 2946-2746
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 140
Topics: Bioethics, Moral Philosophy, Feminism, Humanism