Reviews
An excellent book, clear and engaging. Ten Have has been involved in several discipline-shaping research endeavors and is very well placed to write a reflective meta-essay on the state of play in bioethics and to describe a vision for its future.
In a provocative fashion and with the extraordinary erudition for which he is known, Henk Ten Have reminds us that bioethics rests on recessive premises, irreducible to fact-based and principle-oriented analyses. Openness to the broader horizon of metaphors and global value perspectives, beyond a narrowly individualistic and rationalistic methodology, can help bioethics decipher the 'bizarre' images that nourish its reflection, searching more critically for what it means to be human and keeping us alert to the myths of contemporary technoscience. A brilliant book!
Of all bioethics books published during the last 50 years, this one is by far the most original and thought provoking.
Bizarre Bioethics is an unsettling book. ten Have is acutely critical in showing that current bioethical debates are preoccupied with extraordinary cases that provide distorted views of reality. The book urges a shift from this vertical and episodic bioethics focused on individual issues to a bioethics framed by collective, horizontal, and permanent situations.
With this new must-read book, Henk ten Have has proven once again to be one of the most original thinkers in bioethics today. ten Have's take on bioethics is informed by a deep familiarity with the field and its history. What's more, it derives a distinctive character from his truly global perspective, gained through his work for UNESCO all over the world. Both qualities come to the fore in Bizarre Bioethics, which is not only intellectually enlightening but also extremely entertaining in its focus on ghosts, monsters, pilgrims, prophets, and relics.
Ten Have has artfully identified both good and scary elements in bioethics today. One is left wondering if the roles of ghosts and monsters might be changed. His reflections on the development of bioethics, its attempt at being neutral, and the effects of losing the human moral experience are spot on.
Book Details
Chapter 1. Questioning the Paradigm of Bioethics
Chapter 2. The Establishment of Bioethics
Chapter 3. Ghosts
Chapter 4. Monsters
Chapter 5. Pilgrims
Chapter 6. Prophets
Chapter 7. Relics
Chapter 8. Critical
Chapter 1. Questioning the Paradigm of Bioethics
Chapter 2. The Establishment of Bioethics
Chapter 3. Ghosts
Chapter 4. Monsters
Chapter 5. Pilgrims
Chapter 6. Prophets
Chapter 7. Relics
Chapter 8. Critical Bioethics
Notes
Bibliography
Index