The use of human embryonic stem cells in research is justified by its advocates in terms of promises to cure a wide range of diseases and disabilities, from Alzheimer.s and Parkinsonism to the results of heart attacks and spinal cord injuries. More broadly, there is the promethean allure of being able to redesign human biological nature in terms of the goals and concerns of humans. Needless to say, these allures and promises have provoked a wide range of not just moral but metaphysical reflections that reveal and reflect deep fault-lines in our cultures. The essays in this volume, directly and indirectly, present the points of controversy as they tease out the character of the moral issues that confront any attempt to develop the human regenerative technologies that might move us from a human to a post-human nature. Although one can appreciate the disputes as independently philosophical, they are surely also a function of the conflict between a Christian and a post-Christian culture, in that Christianity has from its beginning recognized a fundamental prohibition against the taking of early human life. Even the philosophical disputes that frame secular bioethics are often motivated and shaped by these background cultural conflicts
Introduction: Regenerative Medicine at the Heart of the Culture Wars
3
King-Tak IP
Part II Prospect of Being Posthuman: The Metaphysical Roots of the Moral Controversies
1 Regenerative Medicine after Humanism: Puzzles Regarding the use of Embryonic Stem Cells, Germ-Line Genetic Engineering, and the Immanent Pursuit of Human Flourishing
13
H. Tristram Engelhardt
2 Genetic Manipulation and the Resurrection Body
27
Robert Song
3 Secular Humanist Bioethics and Regenerative Medicine
47
Ping-Cheung Lo
4 Radical Disagreements of Chinese Views on Fetal Life and Implications for Bioethics
63
Nie Jing-Bao
Part III A Human Embryonic Stem-Cell Research: The Geography of Persistent Disagreement
5 Using and Misusing Embryos: The Ethical Debates
77
Brenda Almond
6 Trading Lives or Changing Human Nature: The Strange Dilemma of Embryo-Based Regenerative Medicine
93
Glenn Mcgee
7 Therapeutic Cloning, Respect for Human Embryo, and Symbolic Value
107
Jonathan Chan
Part IV A Search for a Larger Picture: Regenerative Medicine and the Moral Enterprise
8 Medical Biotechnologies: Are There Effective Ethical Arguments for Policy Making?
119
Ruiping Fan and Erika Yu
9 Extending Human Life: To What End?
135
Brent Waters
10 The Ethics of Regenerative Medicine: Beyond Humanism and Posthumanism
155
Gerald P. Mckenny
11 Virtue In Vitro: Virtue Ethics as an Alternative to Questions of Moral Status
