The Case against Perfection

The Case against Perfection by Michael Sandel is a brief, concise, and dazzling argument by one of Americas foremost moral and political thinkers that brings you up to speed on the core ethical issues informing current debates about genetic engineering and stem cell research. -- Gabriel Gbadamosi * BBC Radio * Sandels arguments ultimately speak to our gut-level qualms about enhancement; and his aim in fact is to give these qualms a coherent moral basis His book in the end is more a lyrical plea for reverence and humility than a lawyers watertight case against. The ethicist Michael Sandel wants us at least to think about the line [between health and enhancement], however imaginaryand to think about where, in a hyper-competitive world, re-engineering our natures will ultimately lead. -- Michele Pridmore-Brown * Times Literary Supplement * Michael Sandels dive into the sea of genetic engineering provides a great tasty gulp of contemporary ethical controversy. Quickly read, The Case against Perfection is nonetheless dense with challenging quandaries, loaded with moral puzzles and filled with facts. An inveterate highlighter, I underlined half the book. -- John F. Kavanaugh * America * In the future, genetic manipulation of embryos is expected to have the potential to go beyond the treatment of diseases to improvements: children who are taller, more athletic, and have higher IQs In The Case against Perfection, Michael Sandel argues that the unease many people feel about such manipulations have a basis in reason This beautifully crafted little bookquickly and clearly lays out the key issues at stake. -- Gregory M. Lamb * Christian Science Monitor * Given the vast gulf between progressive and conservative thinking, the time is ripe for a philosopher to take on the issues of biotechnology. And in The Case against Perfection Harvards Michael Sandel does just that, attempting to develop a new position on biotechnology, one that, like Sandel himself, is not easily identified as either left or right. A former member of the Presidents Council on Bioethics, Sandel is uniquely well suited for this task, and to challenge the left to get its bearings on the brave new biology Sandel poses an important challenge to contemporary progressives who have failed to grasp the importance of the emerging biopolitics. -- Jonathan Moreno * Democracy * In a highly readable, wise and little book titled The Case against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering, Michael Sandel argues that parents quest to create the ideal child reflects a drive for mastery and domination over life. -- Douglas Todd * Vancouver Sun * Anyone who thinks our culture is too competitive and consumer-driven should find that Sandels diagnosis resonates. He provides not only a warning about the shape of the future, but equally an indictment ofor at least a call to examineour individual moral lives and our contemporary social values. Those who support the practice of genetic enhancement argue that the technology is not substantially different from other forms of enhancement we use to improve our lives and the lives of our children. Sandel agrees, but he does not base his argument on any particular distinction about the means of enhancement; rather he is deeply concerned about the underlying impetus of mastery and dominion. -- Debra Greenfield * Bioethics Forum * For many years I have been ambivalent about reproductive innovations, from surrogate gestation to preimplantation screening for gender selection. After reading Sandels exceedingly elegant little book, The Case against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering, I could finally put satisfactory names to core values implicit in my hesitation: acceptance and solidarity. I encountered Sandels book as a participant in the intellectual discourse about parenting. But the books greatest value to me was its validation of the commitments of solida

Michael J. Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard University and author of The Tyranny of Merit. His freely available online course Justice: Whats the Right Thing to Do? has been viewed by tens of millions of people around the world.

1. The Ethics of Enhancement 2. Bionic Athletes 3. Designer Children, Designing Parents 4. The Old Eugenics and the New 5. Mastery and Gift Epilogue. Embryo Ethics: The Stem Cell Debate Notes Index