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Buy Embryo: A Defense of Human Life by Robert P. George, Christopher Tollefsen available and for sale on Brightsurf
| View Larger Image | Embryo: A Defense of Human Life
by Robert P. George, Christopher Tollefsen
| | List Price: | $23.95 | | Price: | $16.29 | | You Save: | $7.66 (32%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 83415 | | Studio: | Doubleday | | | Binding: | Hardcover | | Number Of Pages: | 256 | | Publication Date: | January 08, 2008 | | Publisher: | Doubleday |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
The bitter national debates over abortion, euthanasia, and stem cell research have created an unbridgeable gap between religious groups and those who insist that faith-based views have no place in public policy. Religious conservatives are so adamantly opposed to stem cell research in particular that President Bush issued the first veto of his presidency over a bill that would have provided federal funding for such research.
Now, in this timely consideration of the nature and rights of human embryos, Robert P. George and Christopher Tollefsen make a persuasive case that we as a society should neither condone nor publicly fund embryonic stem cell research of any kind.
Typically, right-to-life arguments have been based explicitly on moral and religious grounds. In Embryo, the authors eschew religious arguments and make a purely scientific and philosophical case that the fetus, from the instant of conception, is a human being, with all the moral and political rights inherent in that status. As such, stem cell research that destroys a viable embryo represents the unacceptable taking of a human life.
There is also no room in their view for a “moral dualism” that regards being a “person” as merely a stage in a human life span. An embryo does not exist in a “prepersonal” stage that does not merit the inviolable rights otherwise ascribed to persons. Instead, the authors argue, the right not to be intentionally killed is inherent in the fact of being a human being, and that status begins at the moment of conception.
Moreover, just as none should be excluded from moral and legal protections based on race, sex, religion, or ethnicity, none should be excluded on the basis of age, size, or stage of biological development.
George and Tollefsen fearlessly grapple with the political, scientific, and cultural consequences arising from their position and offer a summary of scientific alternatives to embryonic stem cell research. They conclude that the state has an ethical and moral obligation to protect embryonic human beings in just the same manner that it protects every other human being, and they advocate for embryo adoption—the only ethical solution to the problem of spare embryos resulting from in-vitro fertilization. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 9 reviews)
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Sad to think trees were cut down to make this. 
This book by one of President George W. Bush's ethics advisors and an associate professor at the University of South Carolina claims to prove "scientifically" that life begins at conception.It is a screed against the use of human embryos for scientific experimentation. Although it doesn't explicitly deal with abortion, it can also be seen as an addition to the blizzard of "pro-life" material we've seen in recent years.
The book is written in a patronizing, pseudo-academic style. Although the authors spinkle around scientific terms with generous abandon, it's hard to discern any actual science at the heart of their case. We all know that every person who is born has to have been conceived. That doesn't mean we can or should afford all the rights of a person to a fetus or an embryo or a sperm or an egg -- or for that matter a piece of spit which also contains human DNA. Their case against anything that might tinker with an embryo could equally apply to contraception.
Boiled down, the authors' case is best summed up by the famous Monty Python song from the movie Monty Python's the Meaning of Life, "Every Sperm is Sacred."
Every sperm is sacred.
Every sperm is great.
If a sperm is wasted,
God gets quite irate.
Let the heathen spill theirs
On the dusty ground.
God shall make them pay for
Each sperm that can't be found.
Every sperm is wanted.
Every sperm is good.
Every sperm is needed
In your neighbourhood.
July 09, 2008 | |
A great resource 
In this important volume two philosophers with interests in bioethics and law make the case for the moral worth of the human embryo from non-religious grounds. The case instead is made with a combination of science (biology, embryology, genetics) and moral philosophy.
Thus this book covers a wide range of topics, and deals with the various technologies that threaten the human embryo, from abortion to cloning and embryonic stem cell research. Much of the discussion focuses on the scientific questions: what is an embryo, how is it formed and developed, and so on.
The authors show that at fertilisation a new and distinct human organism comes into existence. The newly formed zygote is genetically unique, and its sex is established. This newly formed zygote is genetically distinct from either of its two parents.
When sperm and oocyte unite, there is a new human individual which comes into existence. It is a "single, unified, and self-integrated biological system", argue the authors, which is on a "developmental trajectory" toward a mature stage of human being.
The authors remind us that the zygote is no longer some functional part of either parent, but a "unique organism, distinct and whole, albeit at the very beginning of a long process of development to adulthood". All the mother does from now on is provide nutrition and a safe environment for the embryo to grow.
And this growth is internally directed. It contains within itself all the "genetic programming and epigenetic characteristics necessary to direct its own biological growth". It is a complete or whole organism, in the very early stages of development. And the changes from embryo to fetus to child to adult, etc., are simply changes in degree, not changes in kind.
Thus the scientific question is easily answered. This is a wholly new and distinct genetic individual. And it of course is fully human. But questions arise as to whether this new human embryo is in fact a person. Here the authors move from science to philosophy.
For science cannot answer these sorts of questions. Thus the need for moral philosophy. And here the authors take on all the leading critics of the personhood of the human embryo. Peter Singer, Lee Silver, Judith Jarvis Thompson, Michael Tooley and others are all interacted with.
Drawing on a rich history of philosophical discussion, going back at least to Plato, the authors seek to establish the substance or essence of an entity, in distinction to its various characteristics or properties. Distinction, in other words, must be made between the kind of thing an entity is, and its accidental or contingent properties. For example, being left-handed or red-haired is not an essential feature of peronhood, but is simply an accidental property.
Utilitarian and consequentialist definitions of personhood fail to make this important distinction. Thus personhood is tied up with functionality and activity, instead of one's innate nature or essence. So persons are described as those with sentience, or self-consciousness, or various other functions. But the authors argue that the utilisation of these accidental properties is not the same as our fundamental nature or substance.
The various abilities to reason, communicate, make free choices, and perform other functions of course are not fully formed in the embryo, or even in a young child. They take time to mature and properly develop. But the capacity to perform such functions is with us from the very beginning. Each new human being "comes into existence possessing the internal resources to develop such capacities".
Thus human beings live personal lives, argue the authors. These lives are "characterised by a certain range of potentialities, which need not be fully instantiated or realized all at once or to the same degree in all cases".
The bulk of this book then takes on the various arguments made against the personhood of the embryo, and these functionalist definitions of personhood. Various philosophical and moral challenges and objections are carefully dealt with. Specific issues such as brain death, twinning, natural embryo loss, lifeboat ethics, surplus embryos, and other problems are discussed in detail. Challenges from cloning and other new reproductive technologies are also addressed. Finally, political, technological and cultural recommendations are made, based on this understanding of the complete humanity and personhood of the human embryo.
This is a very fine book that covers most of the bases in what is often a highly emotive and controversial debate. The scientific, moral and philosophical case for the worth of the embryo is here clearly and dispassionately made. The authors have produced a welcome addition to the growing body of pro-life literature.
April 07, 2008 | |
Excellent and comprehensive book
This is an excellent book that presents the science of what an embryo is, the science of early life, and the science involved in the procedures to extract pluripotent stem cells. Additionally, the book covers the science behind SCNT and the semantics involved in trying to erroneously distinguish between reproductive and so-called "therapeutic" cloning. The book tackles all of the ethical arguments that seek to argue against the humanity (which science confirms that the embryo is a human being) and the personhood of the human embryo, that it is the same as a fetus, later baby, adolescent, adult, etc, just at a different developmental stage. Thus, there is no difference in kind between an embryo and an adult human being. The book does not include any religious dogma or any argument or basis drawn from any revelation or ecclesiastical authority. It relies strictly on science, reason, and moral philosophy. Challenge yourself by reading this book today! Also, for an excellent review and detailed look at the book, visit: Zenit and search for the book title. Amazon.com for some reason will not let me list the url here.
April 01, 2008 | |
The Book Misrepresents an Emotive Issue - the real debate it addresses has never been about "embryonic personhood"
This book is one more tool in the armory of the anti-contraception anti-feminism movement, and this is its main flaw. It is a fallacy to represent the pro-choice position as one that is unconcerned with the potential person that an embryo represents. The question is HOW best to protect unwanted "pre-persons."
The anti-choice lobby are not really interested in protecting these 'pre-persons' from death. If they were, they would recommend the widespread use of contraceptives. Preventing unwanted pregnancies is the quickest, simplest method of protecting unwanted persons from existing and so being vulnerable to termination. But in their alternative 'reality' abstinence is somehow a workable method of birth control (though they have never suggested that male human nature is anything but hyper-sexual; instead they just blame females for liking sex too).
Pro-choice advocates are not arguing that an embryo is not worthy of moral concern, as it at least represents a potential person, if not an actual one. What they abhor is the sexist suggestion that women should not have sex at all, and so ought not have access to contraceptives -- the BEST way to prevent unwanted pregnancy. The sexist double standards persist -- we blame women for being sexual, even though our society grooms them to be hyper-sexy objects of male desire from birth. Time to get realistic.
March 02, 2008 | |
very good articulation
Very good articulation of the arguments against human embryonic stem cell research - from both biological and philosophical perspectives.
March 01, 2008 | |
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