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9780199347216

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"""In this lively book, Kaebnick defends both the legitimacy and the limits of appeals to 'nature' in bioethical and environmental debates. Kaebnick's discussion is nuanced, wide-ranging, and persuasive. The book will be of immense value to both academic and policy audiences."" -- B. Andrew Lustig, Holmes Rolston III Professor of Religion and Science, Davidson College ""As differences between nature and artifact become steadily less substantial, problems about preservation run to the core of how people can make sense of themselves, of each other, and of our shared world. Kaebnick's solutions are creative and compelling, theoretically elegant and politically practical. Providing distinctive ways forward, when much academic and policy discussion seems exhausted, his book demands wide attention. In return, it inspires hope."" -- James L. Nelson, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, Professor of Philosophy, Michigan State University ""Appeals to the idea of 'nature' and the 'natural' are common in many areas of contemporary debate - from environmentalism to medicine to agriculture to discussions of 'post-humanism' and controversies regarding doping in sports. Yet the concept of nature is a terribly slippery one, and arguably functions in different ways in these different debates. Gregory Kaebnick in this tremendously useful book tries to disentangle the complexities involved in the concept of nature and to figure out what normative work it can and cannot be expected to do, paying special and valuable attention to the political role appeals to nature might legitimately play under conditions of pluralism."" -- Steven Vogel, Brickman - Shannon Professor & Chair, Philosophy Department, Denison University ""Humans in Nature is an exceptionally wide-ranging and fair-minded exploration of the concept of nature and its role in practical issues. In Greg Kaebnick's view, the best understanding of the human relationship to nature neither eliminates nature as a constraint on human agency nor requires us to desist from all activities that alter what we did not originally create. This welcome middle way brings clarity to policy debates ranging from environmentalism and biotechnology to human enhancement and steroids in sports. Written in straightforward, non-technical language, Humans in Nature deserves a wide readership."" -- William A. Galston, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution"

In this lively book, Kaebnick defends both the legitimacy and the limits of appeals to 'nature' in bioethical and environmental debates. Kaebnick's discussion is nuanced, wide-ranging, and persuasive. The book will be of immense value to both academic andpolicy audiences. -- B. Andrew Lustig, Holmes Rolston III Professor of Religion and Science, Davidson College As differences between nature and artifact become steadily less substantial, problems about preservation run to the core of how people can make sense of themselves, of each other, and of our shared world. Kaebnick's solutions are creative and compelling, theoretically elegant and politically practical. Providing distinctive ways forward, when much academic and policy discussion seems exhausted, his book demands wide attention. In return, it inspires hope. -- James L. Nelson, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, Professor of Philosophy, Michigan State University

In this lively book, Kaebnick defends both the legitimacy and the limits of appeals to 'nature' in bioethical and environmental debates. Kaebnick's discussion is nuanced, wide-ranging, and persuasive. The book will be of immense value to both academic and policy audiences. -- B. Andrew Lustig, Holmes Rolston III Professor of Religion and Science, Davidson College As differences between nature and artifact become steadily less substantial, problems about preservation run to the core of how people can make sense of themselves, of each other, and of our shared world. Kaebnick's solutions are creative and compelling, theoretically elegant and politically practical. Providing distinctive ways forward, when much academic and policy discussion seems exhausted, his book demands wide attention. In return, it inspires hope. -- James L. Nelson, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, Professor of Philosophy, Michigan State University Appeals to the idea of 'nature' and the 'natural' are common in many areas of contemporary debate - from environmentalism to medicine to agriculture to discussions of 'post-humanism' and controversies regarding doping in sports. Yet the concept of nature is a terribly slippery one, and arguably functions in different ways in these different debates. Gregory Kaebnick in this tremendously useful book tries to disentangle the complexities involved in the concept of nature and to figure out what normative work it can and cannot be expected to do, paying special and valuable attention to the political role appeals to nature might legitimately play under conditions of pluralism. -- Steven Vogel, Brickman - Shannon Professor & Chair, Philosophy Department, Denison University Humans in Nature is an exceptionally wide-ranging and fair-minded exploration of the concept of nature and its role in practical issues. In Greg Kaebnick's view, the best understanding of the human relationship to nature neither eliminates nature as a constraint on human agency nor requires us to desist from all activities that alter what we did not originally create. This welcome middle way brings clarity to policy debates ranging from environmentalism and biotechnology to human enhancement and steroids in sports. Written in straightforward, non-technical language, Humans in Nature deserves a wide readership. -- William A. Galston, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution In this lively book, Kaebnick defends both the legitimacy and the limits of appeals to 'nature' in bioethical and environmental debates. Kaebnick's discussion is nuanced, wide-ranging, and persuasive. The book will be of immense value to both academic and policy audiences. -- B. Andrew Lustig, Holmes Rolston III Professor of Religion and Science, Davidson College As differences between nature and artifact become steadily less substantial, problems about preservation run to the core of how people can make sense of themselves, of each other, and of our shared world. Kaebnick's solutions are creative and compelling, theoretically elegant and politically practical. Providing distinctive ways forward, when much academic and policy discussion seems exhausted, his book demands wide attention. In return, it inspires hope. -- James L. Nelson, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, Professor of Philosophy, Michigan State University Appeals to the idea of 'nature' and the 'natural' are common in many areas of contemporary debate - from environmentalism to medicine to agriculture to discussions of 'post-humanism' and controversies regarding doping in sports. Yet the concept of nature is a terribly slippery one, and arguably functions in different ways in these different debates. Gregory Kaebnick in this tremendously useful book tries to disentangle the complexities involved in the concept of nature and to figure out what normative work it can and cannot be expected to do, paying special and valuable attention to the political role appeals to nature might legitimately play under conditions of pluralism. -- Steven Vogel, Brickman - Shannon Professor & Chair, Philosophy Department, Denison University Humans in Nature is an exceptionally wide-ranging and fair-minded exploration of the concept of nature and its role in practical issues. In Greg Kaebnick's view, the best understanding of the human relationship to nature neither eliminates nature as a constraint on human agency nor requires us to desist from all activities that alter what we did not originally create. This welcome middle way brings clarity to policy debates ranging from environmentalism and biotechnology to human enhancement and steroids in sports. Written in straightforward, non-technical language, Humans in Nature deserves a wide readership. -- William A. Galston, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution

Author Information

Gregory E. Kaebnick is a scholar at The Hastings Center and editor of the Hastings Center Report. He has been coinvestigator of two research projects funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation on the ethical issues of synthetic biology, principal investigator of a project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities on appeals to nature in debates about biotechnology and the environment, coinvestigator in a National Institutes of Health-funded project on genetic paternity testing, and a participant in a series of other Hastings projects funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Rockefeller Foundation on issues concerning the application of medical technologies and agricultural biotechnology.

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