Stem cell research is headline news. Researchers are eager to move forward, state governments and private foundations are rushing to support it, and the sick and afflicted are desperate for its benefits. Yet powerful forces in our society - led by President George W. Bush - find it morally troubling and they are doing all in their powers to restrict its development beyond a very limited scale. Stem cells have the potential to develop into different parts of the body - skin, bone, nerves, blood, and more. Scientists usually harvest them from aborted foetal tissue or newly fertilised cells. This procedure has proved very unacceptable to the religious right. They argue that even a newly fertilised cell is fully human and has all of the rights of full-grown adults, and they find any use of aborted foetuses abhorrent. Given the medical potential for treatment of incurable diseases by stem cell research, as well as the moral dilemmas this technology poses, should such research be permitted? What moral, religious, or political objections might be raised? Philosophers Michael Ruse and Christopher Pynes have compiled this valuable, up-to-date, and newly revised collection of articles by noted experts to address all aspects of the stem cell controversy. The contributors - scientists, medical practitioners, philosophers, theologians, historians, and policy analysts - offer a variety of perspectives to give readers the critical tools they need to shape an informed position on the topic. Readers will come away with a deeper understanding of the science of stem cell research, its medical cures and promises, and the moral, religious, and policy concerns surrounding this controversial social issue.
Michael Ruse is the Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University.As a prominent philosopher of science, he is well known for his work on the relationship between science and religion, the creation-evolution controversy and the demarcation problem within science. He has published over 25 books: most recently, Reflections on the Origin of Species, with David Reznick (Princeton UP, 2008); Science and Spirituality: Making Room for Faith in the Age of Science (Cambridge UP, 2010); and Atheism: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford UP, 2015).
President George W. Bush on Stem Cell Research; Stem Cells: A Primer; The Language That Really Matters; Can Old Cells Learn New Tricks?; Adult Stem Cells: A Positive Perspective; "Parthenotes": Expand the Debate on Stem Cells; Paralysed Mouse Walks Again as Scientists Fight Stem Cell Ban; 60 Minutes II, Holy Grail; Human Stem Cell Research and the Potential for Clinical Application; Foetal Neuron Grafts Pave the Way for Stem Cell Therapies; Promises of Stem Cells Kept; The Stem Cell Slide: Be Alert to the Beginnings of Evil; Research with Human Embryonic Stem Cells: Ethical Considerations; Ethics and Policy in Embryonic Stem Cell Research; The Ethics and Politics of Small Sacrifices in Stem Cell Research; The Ethical Case Against Stem Cell Research; Stem Cell Research: The Failure of Bioethics; Public Stem Cell Banks: Considerations of Justice in Stem Cell Research and Therapy; Patients' Voices: The Powerful Sound in the Stem Cell Debate; The Stem Cell Controversy; Stem Cells and the Catholic Church; Testimony of Abdulaziz Sachedina; Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research: An Intercultural Perspective; A Time for Restraint; The Politics and Ethics of Human Embryo and Stem Cell Research; The Basics about Stem Cells; Locating Convergence: Ethics, Public Policy, and Human Stem Cell Research; Stem Cells: Public Policy and Ethics; Ethical Consistency in Embryonic Stem Cell Research.
