The Conception of Life in Synthetic Biology.
The phrase 'synthetic biology' is used to describe a set of different scientific and technological disciplines, which share the objective to design and produce new life forms. This essay addresses the following questions: What conception of life stands behind this ambitious objective? In what relati...
| Publicado en: | Science & Engineering Ethics Vol. 18; no. 4; pp. 757 - 775 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Springer Nature
Dec2012
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=83839282&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 83839282 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 13533452 GNI jtl: Science & Engineering Ethics issn: 13533452 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Dec2012 vid: 18 iid: 4 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 83839282 10.1007/s11948-011-9269-z ppf: 757 ppct: 18 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 205KB tig: atl: The Conception of Life in Synthetic Biology. aug: au: Deplazes-Zemp, Anna affil: University of Zurich, IBME (Institute of Biomedical Ethics), Pestalozzistr. 24 8032 Zurich Switzerland su: Synthetic biology Biotechnology Life (Biology) Biologists Biology sug: subj: Synthetic biology Biotechnology Life (Biology) Biologists Biology keyword: Conception of life Designing life Living machine ab: The phrase 'synthetic biology' is used to describe a set of different scientific and technological disciplines, which share the objective to design and produce new life forms. This essay addresses the following questions: What conception of life stands behind this ambitious objective? In what relation does this conception of life stand to that of traditional biology and biotechnology? And, could such a conception of life raise ethical concerns? Three different observations that provide useful indications for the conception of life in synthetic biology will be discussed in detail: 1. Synthetic biologists focus on different features of living organisms in order to design new life forms, 2. Synthetic biologists want to contribute to the understanding of life, and 3. Synthetic biologists want to modify life through a rational design, which implies the notions of utilising, minimising/optimising, varying and overcoming life. These observations indicate a tight connection between science and technology, a focus on selected aspects of life, a production-oriented approach to life, and a design-oriented understanding of life. It will be argued that through this conception of life synthetic biologists present life in a different light. This conception of life will be illustrated by the metaphor of a toolbox. According to the notion of life as a toolbox, the different features of living organisms are perceived as various rationally designed instruments that can be used for the production of the living organism itself or secondary products made by the organism. According to certain ethical positions this conception of life might raise ethical concerns related to the status of the organism, the motives of the scientists and the role of technology in our society. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Science & Engineering Ethics is a copyright of Springer, 2012. All Rights Reserved. item: Science & Engineering Ethics holder: Springer Nature dt: @attributes: year: 2012 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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