JOSEPH F. JOHNSTON, JR.: Wise Counsel
Tollefsen, Robert P. George and christopher
Wise Counsel b o o K s I n R e V I e W had been achieved in 1688. The “right to bear arms” established by the Glorious Revolution “was very different from the obligation to bear arms… to...
...Other arguments are more serious, such as those based on moral utilitarianism...
...But the debate has continued...
...It is therefore arbitrary and unjustified to cut off this human development through embryo-destructive experimentation...
...M a R c H 2 0 0 8 T H e a M e R I c a n s P e c T a T o R 7 7...
...Beginning at the point of fertilization, through its own internal functioning, given a normal environment and absent damaging accidents, the embryo will undergo a seamless and uninterrupted development through the fetal state to birth, childhood, and adulthood...
...This These possibilities have created a heated ethical controversy...
...There were also the Third Amendment against quartering of troops, the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures, the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination, and the Eighth Amendtion against Louis XIV as establishing British determination against hegemonic powers: Napoleon and (in alliance with the Americans) Imperial Germany and Hitler...
...Some of the arguments, e.g., that the embryo “does not look human,” are clearly specious, and are swiftly refuted by the authors...
...After all, as the authors point out, we would not say that a tiger cub that has not yet developed teeth and claws is not a tiger...
...Anyone with an interest in the important scientific and ethical issues that have arisen in connection with cloning, embryo research, abortion, and related subjects will benefit from reading this thoroughly researched and well-written book...
...Professor George is director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University and is the author of a number of books on natural law, jurisprudence, and philosophy...
...In their book, George and Tollefsen predict this development and encourage government funding to pursue it...
...Utilitarians may assert that cloning produces “pluripotent” stem cells that can be used to develop cures for diseases, and the damage to the embryos in order to obtain stem cells is outweighed by the potential medical benefit to human adults and children...
...ment against cruel and unusual punishment...
...In Embryo, George and Tollefsen present an absorbing and logically compelling account of the human reproductive process, leading ineluctably to the conclusion that a fertilized human embryo is a human being...
...Wise Counsel b o o K s I n R e V I e W had been achieved in 1688...
...area...
...The authors of Embryo have issued a press release welcoming the new technique...
...The President’s Council on Bioethics concluded in 2002 that cloning to produce human children would be unethical largely because of the likelihood of damage to the child...
...cine...
...The authors also address the argument, advanced by Peter Singer and others, that embryos and unborn children are not “persons” because they lack consciousness...
...niques in recent years has given rise to vigorous public debate over the ethics of human cloning...
...The authors offer a brief but very effective analysis of the weakness of utilitarianism as a moral philosophy...
...The new process, called “direct reprogramming,” would appear to eliminate the need to pursue human cloning as a means of producing stem cells for therapeutic purposes...
...Bill of Rights, which was not its only inheritance from 1688...
...The authors argue that the moral dilemma can be best resolved by reference to the nature of humans as free, rational, and social beings...
...What kind of world would there be,” asks Barone, “if Britain and then the United States had not gotten into the habit of opposing tyrannical hegemonic powers...
...This English affirmation of gun rights gave birth to the Second Amendment in the U.S...
...They conclude that research that destroys or damages human embryos is morally wrong and a violation of human rights, and thus aver that government funding for such research should be prohibited...
...is a lawyer in the Washington, D.C...
...Basically, utilitarianism purports to decide moral issues based on the greatest happiness (or greatest good) of the greatest number, but there is no agreed upon standard by which happiness or various goods can be determined...
...b o o K s I n R e V I e W The authors, of course, are aware that those who favor experimentation on human embryos have made plausible arguments in defense of such research...
...Anyone with an interest in the important scientific and ethical issues that have arisen in connection with cloning, embryo research, abortion, and related subjects will benefit from reading this thoroughly researched and well-written book...
...Our First Revolution concludes with a message for today’s Americans, via this epitaph for the improbable revolutionary, William of Orange: “His daring and determination and perseverance should be an inspiration to any who are inclined to weariness and flagging resolve in trying times...
...The “right to bear arms” established by the Glorious Revolution “was very different from the obligation to bear arms… to support the king and his government” common in 17th-century Europe but instead “was a way for the freeman to protect his property and his liberty...
...For such persons, there are basic goods, such as human life, that should not be destroyed just to accomplish some other goal (e.g., monetary profit or mediIt is important to note that the authors purposely avoid using religious arguments...
...Last fall, after Embryo had gone to press, it was announced that, without destroying any human embryos, researchers in Japan and the U.S...
...The answer to this is that the early-stage human has the capacity for full consciousness, which it will eventually develop...
...guidance we need to understand and resolve the most important of these issues...
...It would have been helpful to have a diagram of the biology of embryonic fertilization, such as the one provided in the Report of the President’s Council on Bioethics, but that is a minor matter...
...In the case of reproductive cloning, the embryo would be transferred to a human uterus and would then develop in the ordinary course into a fetus, and eventually a baby...
...A majority of the Council expressed serious concern about the morality of cloning for biomedical research and recommended a moratorium...
...As such, it is the subject of human rights, including the right not to be intentionally killed for purposes of research...
...But if human embryos are human beings, subjects of fundamental rights, then something is lost: a human life...
...There are two possible goals 7 6 T H e a M e R I c a n s P e c T a T o R M a R c H 2 0 0 8 Embryo: a Defense of Human Life By Robert P. George and Christopher Tollefsen (doubleday, 242 pages, $23.95) Reviewed by joseph f. johnston, jr...
...Consciousness, such as the ability to use language, is an attribute that the child will develop in due course...
...I found nothing to criticize in this excellent book...
...Barone also depicts the Anglo-Dutch combinaThe advent of CloninG and other genetic techmammal (Dolly the sheep) took place in 1997...
...This argument proceeds along lines previously set forth by Professor George and other “natural law” theorists...
...Accordingly, they hope to avoid the controversial and ultimately unresolvable arguments over the issue of whether the dignity of the human person rests on the theological view that man is created in the image of God...
...had successfully converted ordinary human skin cells to stem cells having the properties of human embryonic stem cells...
...Another argument in favor of embryo research is that because there are thousands of embryos in cold storage, as a result of in vitro fertilization, that will ultimately be destroyed, nothing will be lost if they are destroyed for research...
...They rest their case entirely on science, technology, and ethics...
...Since the embryo is a human being, it is a human person worthy of full moral respect...
...It continued during the Cold War and today’s struggle against Islamic fascism...
...The scientific and moral issues are complex and difficult...
...These converted cells are pluripotent and thus able to generate heart, nerve, and other human tissue...
...The first successful attempt to clone a startling event led to rampant speculation about the possibilities of human cloning, including the use of human embryos to produce “stem cells” for medical research...
...Professor Tollefsen teaches philosophy at the University of South Carolina and has written on biomedical research...
...In either case, the process involves removing the nuclear DNA from a female egg cell and inserting the nucleus of a donor cell to produce a reconstructed egg, which becomes a human embryo...
...At the end of the book, the authors propose an interesting solution to the leftover embryo problem...
...See especially George’s In Defense of Natural Law...
...In this splendid book, Robert George and Christopher Tollefsen provide us the joseph f. johnston, jr...
...for human cloning: to produce children, or to use the embryo for biomedical research...
...It follows from this analysis that, in the words of the authors, “scientific research conducted on embryonic humans, and destructive of their life or health, is wrong, immoral, unjust...
Vol. 41 • March 2008 • No. 2
