Designs on Nature

Science and Democracy in Europe and the United States

Sheila Jasanoff

344 pages, parution le 29/08/2005

Ajouter à une liste

Indisponible

Résumé

Biology and politics have converged today across much of the industrialized world. Debates about genetically modified organisms, cloning, stem cells, animal patenting, and new reproductive technologies crowd media headlines and policy agendas. Less noticed, but no less important, are the rifts that have appeared among leading Western nations about the right way to govern innovation in genetics and biotechnology. These significant differences in law and policy, and in ethical analysis, may in a globalizing world act as obstacles to free trade, scientific inquiry, and shared understandings of human dignity.

In this magisterial look at some twenty-five years of scientific and social development, Sheila Jasanoff compares the politics and policy of the life sciences in Britain, Germany, the United States, and in the European Union as a whole. She shows how public and private actors in each setting evaluated new manifestations of biotechnology and tried to reassure themselves about their safety.

Three main themes emerge. First, core concepts of democratic theory, such as citizenship, deliberation, and accountability, cannot be understood satisfactorily without taking on board the politics of science and technology. Second, in all three countries, policies for the life sciences have been incorporated into "nation-building" projects that seek to reimagine what the nation stands for. Third, political culture influences democratic politics, and it works through the institutionalized ways in which citizens understand and evaluate public knowledge. These three aspects of contemporary politics, Jasanoff argues, help account not only for policy divergences but also for the perceived legitimacy of state actions.

Sheila Jasanoff is Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Trained in law at Harvard Law School, she is the author of many books on the role of science and technology in the politics of modern democratic societies, including Science at the Bar, The Fifth Branch, and Risk Management and Political Culture.

L'auteur - Sheila Jasanoff

Sommaire

Chapter 1: Why Compare?
Chapter 2: Controlling Narratives
Chapter 3: A Question of Europe
Chapter 4: Unsettled Settlements
Chapter 5: Food for Thought
Chapter 6: Natural Mothers and Other Kinds
Chapter 7: Ethical Sense and Sensibility
Chapter 8: Making Something of Life
Chapter 9: The New Social Contract
Chapter 10: Civic Epistemology
Chapter 11: Republics of Science
Appendix: Chronology

Voir tout

Replier

Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Princeton University Press
Auteur(s)	Sheila Jasanoff
Parution	29/08/2005
Nb. de pages	344
Format	16 x 24
Couverture	Relié
Poids	674g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9780691118116
ISBN13	978-0-691-11811-6