Synthetic Biology

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-VIII

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2. Swiss watches, genetic machines, and ethics

   • Joachim Boldt

   Pages 1-9

3. I Concepts, Metaphors, Worldviews

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11

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   2. Philosophy of Late-Modern Technology

      • Jan C. Schmidt

      Pages 13-29

   3. Synthetic Biology

      • Oliver Müller

      Pages 31-45

   4. Living Machines

      • Harald Matern, Jens Ried, Matthias Braun, Peter Dabrock

      Pages 47-60

   5. Production biology

      • Tobias Eichinger

      Pages 61-70

   6. Creativity and technology

      • Harald Matern

      Pages 71-86

   7. The moral economy of synthetic biology

      • Bernadette Bensaude Vincent

      Pages 87-100

   8. Evaluating biological artifacts

      • Johannes Achatz

      Pages 101-119

4. II Public Good and Private Ownership. Social and Legal Ramifications

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 121-121

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   2. Legal Aspects of Synthetic Biology

      • Jürgen Robienski, Jürgen Simon, Rainer Paslack

      Pages 123-140

   3. Synbio and IP rights: looking for an adequate balance between private ownership and public interest

      • Iñigo de Miguel Beriain

      Pages 141-151

5. III Opportunities, Risks, Governance

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 153-153

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   2. Beyond unity: Nurturing diversity in synthetic biology and its publics

      • Sacha Loeve

      Pages 155-184

   3. Synthetic Genome Technologies

      • Christoph Then

      Pages 185-194

   4. Promising applications of synthetic biology – and how to avoid their potential pitfalls

      • Bernd Giese, Henning Wigger, Christian Pade, Arnim von Gleich

      Pages 195-215

   5. Synthetic biology’s multiple dimensions of benefits and risks: implications for governance and policies

      • Harald König, Daniel Frank, Reinhard Heil, Christopher Coenen

      Pages 217-232

6. Back Matter

   Pages 233-234

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Assessing synthetic biology from a societal and ethical perspective is not only a matter of determining possible harms and benefits of synthetic biology applications. Synthetic biology also incorporates a specific technoscientific understanding of its research agenda and its research objects that has philosophical and ethical implications. This edited volume sets out to explore and evaluate these synthetic biology worldviews and it proposes appropriate governance measures. In addition, legal challenges are discussed.

• Bioethics
• Biology
• Living Machines
• Robots
• Synthetic Biology

“This volume, edited by Boldt, attempts to explain the scope of Synthetic Biology, clarifies its distinction from technologies such as genetic engineering and nanotechnology, and discuss the ethical and legal concerns with which the field of Synthetic Biology specifically contends. … for anyone who is interested in forwarding their knowledge in the area of modern biotechnological innovation, its applications, and its implications.” (Ambika Natarajan, Nanoethics, Vol. 10, 2016)

• Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

  Joachim Boldt

Dr. Joachim Boldt is Deputy Director at the Institut für Ethik und Geschichte der Medizin in Freiburg (Germany).

Policies and ethics