Wrongful Life: Logico-Empiricist Philosophy of Biology

According to the ethic of life, all living organisms are of special moral importance. Living things, unlike simple artifacts or biological collectives, are not mere things whose value is entirely instrumental. This book articulates why the ethic is immune to most of the standard criticisms raised against it, but also why such an ethic is untenable, why the domain of moral concern does not extend to all living things; it argues for an old conclusion in an entirely new way. To see why the ethic must be abandoned requires that we look carefully at the foundations of the ethic—the ways in which it is tightly connected to issues in the philosophy of biology and the sorts of assumptions it must draw on to distinguish the living from the nonliving. This book draws on resources from a variety of branches of philosophy and the sciences to show that the ethic cannot survive this scrutiny, and it articulates what the death of the ethic of life means in a variety of areas of practical concern, including environmental ethics, biomedical ethics, ethics of technology, and in philosophy more generally.

The ascription of rights in wrongful life suits

Law and Philosophy ◽

10.1007/bf00145426 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 149-165 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Nancy S. Jecker

Keyword(s):

Wrongful Life

Coming of age in the Philosophy of Biology∗

Inquiry ◽

10.1080/00201748708602134 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 459-475

Author(s):

Michael Bradie

Keyword(s):

Coming Of Age ◽

Philosophy Of Biology

Karl Popper's Philosophy of Biology

Philosophy of Science ◽

10.1086/288772 ◽

1977 ◽

Vol 44 (4) ◽

pp. 638-661 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Michael Ruse

Keyword(s):

Philosophy Of Biology

Do microbes question standard thinking in the philosophy of biology?

Analysis ◽

10.1093/analys/ant017 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 73 (2) ◽

pp. 380-387 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

C. Werndl

Keyword(s):

Philosophy Of Biology

The Causal Structure of Natural Selection

10.1017/9781108680691 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Charles H. Pence

Keyword(s):

Natural Selection ◽

Case Studies ◽

Genetic Drift ◽

Evolutionary Theory ◽

Causal Structure ◽

Philosophy Of Biology ◽

Philosophy Of Physics ◽

Potential Value ◽

Multi Level ◽

Evolutionary Explanations

Recent arguments concerning the nature of causation in evolutionary theory, now often known as the debate between the 'causalist' and 'statisticalist' positions, have involved answers to a variety of independent questions – definitions of key evolutionary concepts like natural selection, fitness, and genetic drift; causation in multi-level systems; or the nature of evolutionary explanations, among others. This Element offers a way to disentangle one set of these questions surrounding the causal structure of natural selection. Doing so allows us to clearly reconstruct the approach that some of these major competing interpretations of evolutionary theory have to this causal structure, highlighting particular features of philosophical interest within each. Further, those features concern problems not exclusive to the philosophy of biology. Connections between them and, in two case studies, contemporary metaphysics and philosophy of physics demonstrate the potential value of broader collaboration in the understanding of evolution.

Wrongful Birth, Wrongful Life!

Postgraduate Medicine ◽

10.1080/00325481.1983.11698449 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 74 (4) ◽

pp. 24-28

Author(s):

Marc S. Mandell

Keyword(s):

Wrongful Life ◽

Wrongful Birth