Naturalness

Dieter Birnbacher is a professor of philosophy at the University of Düsseldorf, Germany; president of the Central Ethics Commission of the Bundesärztekammer (German Medical Association); and a member of Leopoldina, German National Academy of Sciences.

Dieter Birnbacher's survey of arguments about the concept of "naturalness" originally appeared in Germany in 2006, and its publication, now in English, is a welcome addition to the literature.... I recommend this book to anyone working in the field of environmental philosophy.... There is much to learn from Birnbacher.

• Preface1. Natural and Artificial: Introductory Distinctions1.1 Naturalness and Artificiality as Points of Orientation1.2 Genetic and Qualitative Naturalness1.3 Dimensions of Naturalness in a Genetic Sense1.4 Dimensions of Naturalness in a Qualitative Sense2. Naturalness as a Value2.1 Has Naturalness become Discredited as a Normative Principle?2.2 The Naturalness Bonus in Everyday Morality2.3 Naturalness Arguments in Applied Ethics2.4 “Natural”: Positive Connotations and their Background2.5 The Structure of Naturalness Arguments2.6 The Task of the Following Chapters3. Naturalness as a Norm3.1 Nature as a Basis for Moral Norms?3.2 Is the Argument of “Naturalistic Fallacy” valid?3.3 Different Approaches to Criticizing Ethical Naturalism3.4 The Projective Character of Normative Images of Nature3.5 Learning from Nature3.6 Conclusions4. Naturalness in the Ethics of Nature: What Type of Nature is Worth Protecting?4.1 Naturalness and other Values of Nature4.2 Can the Value of Protection be Applied to its Necessary Conditions?4.3 Nature as an Anti-World4.4 The Conservation of Naturalness in the Genetic Sense: Originality4.5 Faking Nature4.6 Naturalness in a Qualitative Sense—an Aesthetic or also an Ethical Principle?4.7 Does the Recognition of the Value of Naturalness Demand a Non-Anthropocentric Ethic?4.8 Conclusions5. To What Extent should we be Allowed to Alter our Individual Natural Contingency?5.1 The Religious and other Reasons for the Sacrosanctity of Given Nature5.2 Natural and Artificial: Boundary Issues5.3 Which Alterations resulting from Intervention are Ethically Problematic?5.4 Naturalness in Dealing with Ourselves—An Independent Value?5.5 The “Naturalization” of Human Dignity5.6 Conclusions6. Naturalness Arguments in Reproductive Medicine6.1 Gradations of Artificiality6.2 What Role do Naturalness Arguments Play in Reproductive Medicine?6.3 Naturalness Preferences versus Naturalness Principles6.4 Sex Selection as a Test Case of Biopolitics6.5 Principles of Naturalness in the Debate on Reproductive Cloning6.6 The Dignity of the Species and Naturalness6.7 Conclusions7. Naturalness as a Boundary to Transforming Human Nature7.1 The Idea of a Species Ethics7.2 What does “Human Nature” mean?7.3 “Posthumanism”?7.4 The Openness of Human Nature7.5 Images of Humanity as Intrinsic Values?7.6 ConclusionsBibliographyIndex of Names