Child vs. Childmaker
Future Persons and Present Duties in Ethics and the Law
Published on 30. July 1998
Book
Paperback/Softback
254 pages
978-0-8476-8901-9 (ISBN)
Description
Child Versus Childmaker investigates a 'person-affecting' approach to ethical choice. A form of consequentialism, this approach is intended to capture the idea that agents ought both do the most good that they can and respect each person as distinct from each other. Focusing on cases in which a conflict of interest arises between 'childmakers'_parents, infertility specialists, embryologists, and others engaged in the task of bringing new people into existence_and the children they aim to create, the author considers what we today owe those who will come into existence tomorrow. Topics addressed include: what the person-affecting intuition is and how it differs from other forms of consequentialism; the consistency of the person-affecting intuition; the non-identity problem; wrongful life; and human cloning and other new reproductive technologies. This book is intended for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students in philosophy, law and economics and for anyone interested in bioethics, population policy, normative theory, children's rights, constitutional privacy, or family law.
Reviews / Votes
This is a fun book to read; sometimes maddening, sometimes puzzling, but fun. The comparing of cases, the application of principles, and the attention Roberts gives to some of the details hold one's attention. Ethics Roberts' commitment to a complete explanation of assorted moral arguments makes for thoughtful and complex reading. This book engages those who are searching for an in-depth approach to issues regarding the responsibilities of parents and the rights of children in the face of advancing reproductive technology. The George Washington Law ReviewMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Lanham, MD
United States
Illustrations
bibliography, index
Dimensions
Height: 220 mm
Width: 117 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
322 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8476-8901-9 (9780847689019)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Melinda A. Roberts has doctorates in both law and philosophy and is associate professor of philosophy at the College of New Jersey. She is the author of several articles on ethics and the law.
Content
Part 1 What is the Person-Affecting Intuition? Chapter 2 The Basic Idea Chapter 3 What Matters? Chapter 4 What Else Matters? Chapter 5 Who Matters? Chapter 6 People Who Now Exist: "Existing People Chapter 7 People Who Never Exist: "Merely Possible" People Chapter 8 People Who Will But Do Not Yet Exist: "Future" People Chapter 9 Broome's Inconsistency Argument Chapter 10 The Nonidentity Problem Chapter 11 Wrongful Life Chapter 12 Human Cloning and Other New Reproductive Technologies Chapter 13 Notes Part 14 Is the Person-Affecting Intuition Inconsistent? Chapter 15 The Intuition Chapter 16 Broome's Teleological Approach Chapter 17 Broome's Formulation of the Person-Affecting Intuition Chapter 18 Broome's Inconsistency Argument Chapter 19 A Problem with Broome's Formation of the Person-Affecting Intuition Chapter 20 A Person-Affecting sense of "X Is at Least as Good as Y?" Chapter 21 Personal Wronging Chapter 22 Is Deprived Deprived in C? Chapter 23 Two More Cases Chapter 24 Objections in Personalism Chapter 25 Does Personalism Violate the Independence Axiom? Chapter 26 Pain and Sin Chapter 27 Notes Part 28 The Nonidentity Problem Chapter 29 What Is the Nonidentity Problem? Chapter 30 The Nonidentity Cases Chapter 31 A Person-Affecting Account of the Nonidentity Cases Chapter 32 A Counterfactual Interpretation of the Nonidentity Problem Chapter 33 A Probablistic Interpretation of the Nonidentity Problem Chapter 34 Nonidentity Victims, Fairness, and Personal Wronging Chapter 35 The Case of the Fourteen-Year-Old Girl and the Problem of Future Mistakes Chapter 36 A Totalist Solution to the Nonidentity Problem Chapter 37 A Deontic Solution to the Nonidentity Problem Chapter 38 Reproductive Trade-Offs: When Producing the Child Is Bad for Others Chapter 39 The Repugnant Conclusion Chapter 40 Notes Part 41 Wrongful Life Chapter 42 The Value of Life Chapter 43 Personalism and the Law of Negligence: Common Ground Chapter 44 What Is an Action for Wronging Life? Chapter 45 When Does Life Itself Cinstitute Harm? Chapter 46 A Peson-Affecting Account of Wrongful Life Chapter 47 The Problem of the Baseline and the Modal Test of Harm Chapter 48 The Problem of Deflected Ill-Being Chapter 49 Logical Objections to Wrongful Life Chapter 50 Notes Part 51 Human Cloning Chapter 52 The New Reproductive Technologies Chapter 53 The Question of Harm to Children Chapter 54 Human Embryonic Cloning Chapter 55 The Critique Chapter 56 Are Children Harmed by Cloning? Chapter 57 Human Somatic Cloning Chapter 58 Cloning and the Constitution Chapter 59 Commercial Surrogacy and Other New Technologies Chapter 60 Notes Chapter 61 Conclusion Chapter 62 Bibliography Chapter 63 Index of Names and Subjects Chapter 64 Index of Principles Chapter 65 Index of Graphs