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This collection of essays, commissioned by the President’s Council on Bioethics, explores a fundamental concept crucial to today’s discourse in law and ethics in general and in bioethics in particular. Since its formation in 2001, the council has frequently used the term “human dignity” in its discussions and reports. In this volume scholars from the fields of philosophy, medicine and medical ethics, law, political science, and public policy address the issue of what the concept of “human dignity” entails and its proper role in bioethical controversies. Human Dignity and Bioethics is an attempt to clarify a controversial concept, one that is a critical component in the decisions of policymakers.
Contributors: Adam Schulman, F. Daniel Davis, Daniel C. Dennett, Robert P. Kraynak, Alfonso Gómez-Lobo, Patricia S. Churchland, Gilbert Meilaender, Holmes Rolston III, Charles Rubin, Nick Bostrom, Richard John Neuhaus, Peter Augustine Lawler, Diana Schaub, Leon R. Kass, Susan M. Shell, Martha Nussbaum, David Gelernter, Patrick Lee, Robert P. George, Paul Weithman, Daniel P. Sulmasy, O.F.M., Rebecca Dresser, and Edmund D. Pellegrino.
“The anthology Human Dignity and Bioethics presents a collection of papers originally published by the US-American President’s Council on Bioethics ‘in response to questions about the Council’s use of the term human dignity.’ It provides an extremely helpful and illuminating survey of different understandings of ‘human dignity’ and their consequences for bioethics. It also illustrates the diversity of interpretations that may very well contradict each other and come to different consequences in dealing with bioethical issues . . . the greatest use of the volume lies in its compilation of different approaches and concepts regarding ‘human dignity.’” —Studies in Christian Ethics
Edmund D. Pellegrino is professor emeritus of medicine and medical ethics and adjunct professor of philosophy at Georgetown University.
Adam Schulman is Tutor at St. John’s College, Annapolis, and senior research consultant for the President’s Council on Bioethics.
Thomas W. Merrill is assistant professor in the Department of Government at American University and a research analyst for the President’s Council on Bioethics.