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Bioethics after God explores the relationship between morality and medicine in a society that has denied the existence of God. Medicine and bioethics are going through profound changes in the Western world. Practices that prior generations would have recognized as morally impermissible, such as abortion, eugenics, and euthanasia, are becoming central components of modern health care. Bioethics after God argues that in the process of rejecting its Christian roots, the Western world has upended traditional understandings of truth that are central to both scientific and moral judgment. The effect is felt throughout medicine as health care professionals increasingly work without the context and guidance provided by traditional Christian ethics. Cherry uses the conceptual framework of "weak bioethics"-bioethics solely informed by the stark limits of secular morality-to delve into shifting concepts of health and disease, the active embrace of ethically fraught practices, and technological developments such as brain transplantation and humanoid robots designed for sexual activity. The implications of a bioethics after God are wide-ranging and profound, and Cherry challenges us to consider the repercussions of pushing forward in medicine without the support of a solid ethical foundation.
List of contents
Acknowledgements
1. Bioethics Without God: Eschewing any God's Eye Point of View
2. Weak Thought and Weak Theology
3. Weak Bioethics
4. Sex and Human Dignity: Ideologically Reshaping the Lifeworld
5. Secular Fundamentalism
6. Where there is Hope: A Return to Foundations
Bibliography
About the author
Mark J. Cherry is the Dr. Patricia A. Hayes Professor in Applied Ethics and professor of philosophy at St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas. He is author of
Kidney for Sale by Owner: Human Organs, Transplantation, and the Market and
Sex, Family, and the Culture Wars.
