Skip to main content

Extending Human Life: To What End?

  • Chapter
The Bioethics of Regenerative Medicine

Part of the book series: Philosophy and Medicine ((PHME,volume 102))

Abstract

The burgeoning field of regenerative medicine is poised to transform healthcare. Advances in genetics, stem-cell research, and cloning hint that we may be on the brink of a golden age of medical care, culminating in greatly extended longevity. These advances, however, are accompanied by a number of troubling and divisive religious, moral, and political issues. Although careful analysis and scrutiny are rightfully being devoted to resolving a wide range of discrete problems, the larger concern of toward what end regenerative medicine is taking us has received inadequate attention.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Bostrom, N. (2005). ‘Transhumanist Values,’ Review of Contemporary Philosophy, 4, 1–2, 87–101. [Online] Available: <http://www.nickbostrom.com/ethics/values.html>.

  • Davis, A. (Ed.) (2002). Collected Works of George Grant, Volume 2: 1951–1959, University of Toronto Press, Toronto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engelhardt, H.T., Jr. (1996). The Foundations of Bioethics, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fukuyama, F. (2002). Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, E.L. (2002). Representations of the Post/Human: Monsters, Aliens and Others in Popular Culture, Manchester University Press, Manchester, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grant, G. (1986a). Technology and Justice, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grant, G. (1986b). Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, S.S. (2003). Merchants of Immortality: Chasing the Dream of Human Life Extension, Houghton Mifflin, Boston and New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D.J. (1991). Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature, Free Association Books, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayles, N.K. (1999). How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics, University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hazeltine, W.A. (2003). ‘Regenerative Medicine: A Future Healing Art,’ The Brookings Review, 21, 1, 38–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hefner, P. (2003). Technology and Human Becoming, Fortress Press, Minneapolis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kass, L.R. (1985) Toward a More Natural Science: Biology and Human Affairs, Free Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kass (2002). Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity: The Challenge for Bioethics, Encounter Books, San Francisco.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurzweil, R. (2000). The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence, Penguin Books, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKenny, G.P. (1997). To Relieve the Human Condition: Bioethics, Technology, and the Body, SUNY Press, Albany.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moravec, H. (1988). Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence, Harvard University Press, Cambridge and London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moravec. (1999) Robot: Mere Machines to Transcendent Mind, Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • More, M. (1993). ‘Technological Self-Transformation,’ Extropy, 10, 4, 2. [Online] Available: <http://www.maxmore.com/selftrns.htm>.

  • Ramsey, P. (1970). The Patient as Person: Explorations in Medical Ethics, Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut and London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Springsted, E.O. (Ed.) (1998). Simone Weil, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brent Waters .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Waters, B. (2009). Extending Human Life: To What End?. In: IP, KT. (eds) The Bioethics of Regenerative Medicine. Philosophy and Medicine(), vol 102. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8967-1_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics