Audrey R. Chapman - Böcker

This book results from a symposium sponsored by the Program for Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The organizers of the symposium are the editors of this volume. Contributors focus on the current status of research on sociality and the evolution of behavior in nonhuman and human primates. Against the tendency of sociobiologists to emphasize the selfishness of the gene pool, the authors examine questions related to the evolution, cultural viability, and hormonal underpinnings of human sociality, and describe patterns of sociality among nonhuman primates for the light these may shed light on human social behavior.

The Human Genome Project, discoveries in molecular biology and new reproductive technologies have advanced our understanding of how genetic science may be used to treat persons with genetic disorders. Greater knowledge may also make possible genetic interventions to "enhance" normal human characteristics, such as height, hair or eye colour, strength, or memory, as well as the transmittal of such modifications to future generations. The prospect of inheritable genetic modifications, or IGMs, whether for therapeutic or enhancement purposes, raises complex scientific, ethical and regulatory issues. This volume presents 20 essays by physicians, scientists, philosophers, theologians, lawyers and policy analysts addressing these issues from diverse perspectives. In three sections, the authors discuss the short- and long-term scientific feasibility of IGM technology; ethical and religious issues related to safety, justice, morality, reproductive rights, and enhancement; and regulatory issues including the necessity of public input and oversight and the influence of commercialization.Their goal is to open a dialogue engaging not only scholars and scientists but also government officials and concerned citizens. The authors conclude that while IGM cannot be carried out safely and responsibly on humans utilizing current methods, it is important to begin public discussion now to determine whether, and if so how, to proceed.

Hardly a month goes by without a media report proclaiming that researchers have discovered the gene for some complex human behavior or trait-intelligence, dyslexia, shyness, homosexuality. The practical implications of genetic research can bring great good-relieving parents of self-blame for a child's schizophrenia or autism and possibly treating genetic diseases in the future. Other findings-or pernicious interpretations of them-can cause great harm, for example, by establishing flawed connections between genetics, race, and educational attainment. Wrestling with Behavioral Genetics brings together an interdisciplinary group of contributors-human geneticists, humanists, social scientists, lawyers, and journalists-to discuss the ethical and social implications of behavioral genetics research. The essays give readers the necessary tools to critically analyze the findings of behavioral geneticists, explore competing interpretations of the ethical and social implications of those findings, and engage in a productive public conversation about them.This volume provides an accessible introduction to a fascinating and controversial science and the societal and individual implications of its continuing development.

As nations throughout the world emerge from periods of human rights abuses, systematic oppression, and collective violence, truth commissions have become indispensable to political transition. Such commissions are established as temporary bodies to investigate human rights violations and patterns of violence that occurred over a specified period of time. Their goal is to document conflict-to recover the truth-as a first step toward healing.Of the truth commissions to date, the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has most effectively captured public attention throughout the world and provided the model for succeeding bodies. Although other truth commissions had preceded its establishment, the TRC had a far more expansive mandate: to go beyond truth-finding to promote national unity and reconciliation, to facilitate the granting of amnesty to those who made full factual disclosure, to restore the human and civil dignity of victims by providing them an opportunity to tell their own stories, and to make recommendations to the president on measures to prevent future human rights violations.Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa provides a comprehensive evaluation of the TRC process and its impact on South African society. Based on a six-year study, the volume draws on an analysis of the victim hearings, amnesty hearings, institutional hearings, public opinion survey data, and extensive interviews with a range of TRC staff, people who worked with the commission, and members of different communities affected by the TRC. Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa raises fundamental questions about the TRC, indeed about all truth commissions, their abilities to realize the mandates assigned to them, and particularly to achieve the difficult balance between truth-finding and reconciliation.

Arguing that health care should be a human right rather than a commodity, the distinguished contributors to this volume call for a new social covenant establishing a right to a standard of health care consistent with society's level of resources. By linking rights with limits, they offer a framework for seeking national consensus on a cost-conscious standard of universal medical care. The authors identify the policy implications of recognizing and implementing such a right and develop specific criteria to measure the success of health care reform from a human rights perspective. "Health Care Reform" also offers specific and timely criticism of managed competition and its offspring, the Clinton plan for health care reform. Because health care reform will inevitably be an ongoing process of assessment and revision - especially since managed competition has not been implemented elsewhere - this book will last beyond the moment by providing vital standards to guide the future evolution of the health care system.

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately harmed members of already disadvantaged and vulnerable communities. Focusing on five communities in the US with comparative data from other countries - children, older adults, women, people of color, and those who are incarcerated - The Unequal Pandemic explains why. The book points to the inadequacies of the public policies adopted to respond to the pandemic, evaluating their effectiveness and compliance with ethical norms and human rights obligations. By assessing the failures of the responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, the book outlines needed policy changes to rectify current disparities and respond more effectively in future health emergencies.

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately harmed members of already disadvantaged and vulnerable communities. Focusing on five communities in the US with comparative data from other countries - children, older adults, women, people of color, and those who are incarcerated - The Unequal Pandemic explains why. The book points to the inadequacies of the public policies adopted to respond to the pandemic, evaluating their effectiveness and compliance with ethical norms and human rights obligations. By assessing the failures of the responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, the book outlines needed policy changes to rectify current disparities and respond more effectively in future health emergencies.

Written by a respected authority on human rights and public health, this book delivers an in-depth review of the challenges of neoliberal models and policies for realizing the right to health. The author expertly explores the integration of social determinants into the right to health along with the methodologies and findings of social medicine and epidemiology. The author goes on to challenge the way that health care is currently provided and makes the case that achieving universal health coverage will require fundamental health systems reforms.

Written by a respected authority on human rights and public health, this book delivers an in-depth review of the challenges of neoliberal models and policies for realizing the right to health. The author expertly explores the integration of social determinants into the right to health along with the methodologies and findings of social medicine and epidemiology. The author goes on to challenge the way that health care is currently provided and makes the case that achieving universal health coverage will require fundamental health systems reforms.