Pragmatic Bioethics [Paperback]

Glenn McGee (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0826513212 | ISBN-13: 978-0826513212 | Publication Date: February 1999

A dramatic new introduction to the perplexing ethical challenges of modern biomedicine through the lens of classical American pragmatism.

"Pragmatic Bioethics is one of the most important books to appear in bioethics and applied philosophy this decade. Essay after essay takes on the challenge of articulating precisely what a pragmatic approach to the ethics of health care and biomedicine is and might be. There is simply no better introduction to the issues and challenges raised when bioethical inquiry is brought to the lab bench, the emergency room, or the floor of a state legislature. This is must reading for anyone engaged in bioethics."-Arthur Caplan, Trustee Professor and Director of the Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania

"This book provides the first extensive look at how the challenges encountered in clinical research and policy environments can be framed in a systematic way using a philosophical approach that is sure to inspire debate and discussion for some time. This is precisely what a pragmatic approach to bioethics ought to be doing."-Eric M. Meslin, Executive Director, National Bioethics Advisory Commission

"Pragmatic ethics is our best hope to provide morally satisfying answers to the complex questions of a contingent and changing world. This volume approaches medicine's major moral dilemmas in a way that can help citizens work with policymakers to develop medical systems, structures, guidelines, and codes that serve the interests of most of the people most of the time. What an accomplishment!"-Rosemarie Tong, Davidson College

Modern science and medicine have ushered in a century of amazing discovery and tough choices. In this authoritative and impassioned book, Glenn McGee and other leading writers in American philosophy and medicine offer a new theory of bioethics using the uniquely American approach to ethics known as pragmatism. In eighteen clear and compelling essays, Pragmatic Bioethics addresses some of the newest questions in medicine, including human cloning, genetic testing, and human enhancement. These essays also struggle in a new way with perennial issues in biomedicine, including care for the poor and the aging.

Scholars in medicine and philosophy will find the pragmatic argument refreshing and challenging. But Pragmatic Bioethics is also a clear and comprehensive new introduction to bioethics, appropriate for undergraduates, graduate students, clinicians, and scientists-in-training.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book provides the first extensive look at how the challenges encountered in the clinical research and policy environments can be framed in a systematic way using a philosophical approach that is sure to inspire debate and discussion for some time. This is precisely what a pragmatic approach to bioethics ought to be doing." Eric M. Meslin, Director, Indiana University Center for Bioethics, Professor of Medicine and Assistant Dean for Bioethics, Indiana University School of Medicine, and Professor of Philosophy, Indiana University School of Liberal Arts

"Pragmatic ethics is our best hope to provide morally satisfying answers to the complex questions of a contingent and changing world. This volume approaches medicine's major moral dilemmas in a way that can help citizens work with policymakers to develop medical systems, structures, guidelines, and codes that serve the interests of most of the people most of the time. What an accomplishment!" Rosemarie Tong, Distinguished Professor of Health Care Ethics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Glenn McGee teaches bioethics and American philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics. The author of dozens of articles in philosophy and medicine, his books include The Perfect Baby: A Pragmatic Approach to Genetics (1997) and The Human Cloning Debate (1998). The other contributors to this volume include many of the most thoughtful and respected thinkers in bioethics and philosophy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Vanderbilt Univ Pr (February 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826513212
• ISBN-13: 978-0826513212
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,834,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Glenn Edwards McGee is one of the best known bioethicists in the world. He is the John B. Francis Endowed Chair in Bioethics at the Center for Practical Bioethics, and the Editor in Chief of The American Journal of Bioethics (AJOB), the highest impact bioethics, health services, health economics or health law journal in the English language [ISI Impact Factor of 4.37], and heads the new AJOB family of Journals, including AJOB Primary Research and AJOB Neuroscience. He has served as a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania (1995-2005), UMass, and other institutions and held tenured professorships in medicine and medical ethics and two endowed chairs. Glenn received his Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University and his B.A. at Baylor, where he was named Outstanding Young Alumnus in 2000, and one of the "top 150 graduates of all time" in 2008. Glenn was named one of the "10 most influential people in the New York Capital" in 2008, and was named to the top 40 under 40 in both Albany (2007) and Philadelphia (2004). Seed magazine described him in 2004 as "America's most imaginative young academic." Science noted in 2007 that Dr. McGee's work was one of the prime reasons for the entry of Upstate New York onto the radar screen of prestigious biomedicine.

Dr. McGee has been quoted about his research, which focuses on the family, genetics and reproduction, in most world newspapers. He has been a guest on most U.S. national television and radio news programs, such as Today, Fresh Air, Oprah, Nightline, and ABC World News Tonight, and has co-authored with a number of clinical and scientific luminaries such as Dr. Ruth, Stanley Greenspan, and Ian Wilmut, cloner of Dolly. He is a commentator for MSNBC News, for whom he authored a column from 2000-2003, and he has authored a monthly column from 2005-2007 for The Scientist, the most widely read magazine for scientists, as well as a syndicated column from 2005-2007 in a Hearst newspaper.

Dr. McGee's recent work has focused on ethical issues in autism, but he has authored more than 150 articles on a number of issues in bioethics for medical, legal, business and scientific journals, such as Science, Nature Medicine, and JAMA. His books include Who Owns Life?, Pragmatic Bioethics, The Human Cloning Debate, The Perfect Baby, and most recently Beyond Genetics, a New York Times bestseller about biotechnology and society. His work has ranged widely across many issues and has been widely cited. It has included a number of articles whose influence on the field of bioethics is acclaimed uniformly, including work in the areas of compensation of research subjects, models for parenting and enhancement, a pragmatic theory of bioethics, the patenting and sale of biological materials, ethical issues in tissue and gene banks, and ethical issues in stem cell research. He has received more than $6 million in grant funding from the Greenwall Foundation, the US Department of Education, National Institutes of Health, Haas Foundation and others.

Dr. McGee is very active in public policy. He has co-authored the text that became bills or stem cell legislation in four states, cloning legislation in seven, and has spoken for kings and presidents in eight nations on stem cell research including Dubai. Dr. McGee has delivered more than 80 named or endowed lectureships around the world, and hundreds of major lectures. He has testified before the House and Senate and multiple committees of a number of states in the U.S.. He has taught bioethics to incoming members of the U.S. Congress and teaches workshops on bioethics for the Association of Chief Justices of the US Courts of Appeals. He has served on the FDA Panel on Molecular and Genetic Devices, charged with evaluating all genetic tests and devices. He was the American external evaluator of all genetics and policy programs for the United Kingdom's Economic and Social Research Council in 2007. In 2006 Dr. McGee organized "Bioethics and Politics," the first national conference to bring together conservative and liberal thinkers in biomedical ethics, hailed as "the most important bioethics conference in 25 years" by the then ASBH President. He has been elected to the boards of directors of several foundations and organizations including Planned Parenthood and Chair of the ethics committee of the nation's largest stem cell company. He was hailed by the New York Times and by Harvard University Project Zero for his creating an undergraduate class in which students must submit fully articulate proposed legislation in bioethics to their home state government in order to receive an "A."

Dr. McGee is the acknowledge pioneer and leader in electronic outreach in bioethics. For example, in a joint effort led by Dr. McGee with Apple Computer and Google, he and his colleague Dr. Summer Johnson developed the most successful online graduate program in bioethics using technologies such as Apple's iTunes University and bioethics.net, the first bioethics website (which he founded in 1994). Glenn has three sons, Ethan, Austin and Aidan, and lives in Kansas City, Missouri.