Designs on Nature
eBook - ePub

Designs on Nature

Science and Democracy in Europe and the United States

  1. 392 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Designs on Nature

Science and Democracy in Europe and the United States

About this book

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.

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Yes, you can access Designs on Nature by Sheila Jasanoff in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Politics & International Relations & International Relations. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half title
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. List of Figures and Tables
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. Abbreviations and Acronyms
  9. Prologue
  10. Chapter 1 Why Compare?
  11. Chapter 2 Controlling Narratives
  12. Chapter 3 A Question of Europe
  13. Chapter 4 Unsettled Settlements
  14. Chapter 5 Food for Thought
  15. Chapter 6 Natural Mothers and Other Kinds
  16. Chapter 7 Ethical Sense and Sensibility
  17. Chapter 8 Making Something of Life
  18. Chapter 9 The New Social Contract
  19. Chapter 10 Civic Epistemology
  20. Chapter 11 Republics of Science
  21. Appendix: Chronology
  22. Notes
  23. References
  24. Index