16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Thoughtful Analysis of Biotechnology, December 28, 2005
This review is from: Stuck With Virtue (Religion and Contemporary Culture) (Hardcover)
This book is the best philosophical discussion of biotechnology that I have read to date. Not only does it avoid the utopian views of some authors, it is also not littered with footnotes and statistics. Addressing such issues as eugenics, genetic engineering, religion, and caring for the elderly, political theorist Peter Augustine Lawler delivers a concise yet deep book.
For those of you who have read Lawler before, you will find much of the same in terms of the authors, philosophers, and social critics he typically alludes to and quotes. At one time or another, he mentions Locke, Tocqueville, Francis Fukuyama, Richard Rorty, Allen Bloom, Walker Percy, and Tom Wolfe. Nonetheless, many new thinkers appear, particularly ones who have written books in the last five years, such as David Brooks or Virginia Postrel. Once again, Lawler delivers solid, understandable social commentary intertwined with his unique dry humor.
Nonetheless, I think this book is better than his previous works for two reasons. First, most of the chapters stand alone. If you are only interested in certain topics, you may read the introduction, the first two chapters, and whatever other chapters you desire to read. Second, Lawler uses endnotes sparingly, yielding a neater text while still referencing his fellow thinkers.
If you have not read Lawler before, I would recommend starting with this book. I think it is more accessible than Aliens in America or Postmodernism Rightly Understood, and if you have not read much by the authors and philosophers Lawler frequently references, you will not be as hindered in reading this book as you will be in the others.
In conclusion, if you are intertested in biotechnology and you have read some other works on it or you have read at least two or three of the authors Lawler quotes, you will probably enjoy Stuck With Virtue. If you have enjoyed previous books by Lawler, you will definitely enjoy this one.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Brave New World of horror?, April 24, 2006
This review is from: Stuck With Virtue (Religion and Contemporary Culture) (Hardcover)
With all the talk about human enhancements, cloning, and gene alterations, are we heading for a Brave New World of horror? Plenty of science fiction stories would have you think so - but not political philosophy scholar Peter Lawler in STUCK WITH VIRTUE: THE AMERICAN INDIVIDUAL AND OUR BIOTECHNOLOGY FUTURE. His contention is that, quite the opposite, mankind's own libertarian principles will lend to tyranny, not biological experimentation - and he maintains that the human ability to different between feeling good and being good will remain as a stop gate to biotechnology's fast pace. An intriguing discussion.
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3 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loads of fun to read, December 6, 2005
This review is from: Stuck With Virtue (Religion and Contemporary Culture) (Hardcover)
This book is pretty deep in some ways, but it's always entertaining. Show your class by giving it to all your friends
and relatives for Christmas!
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