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.