Body-Self Dualism in Contemporary Ethics and Politics

by Patrick Lee, Robert P. George

Overview

This book treats the question of what a human person is and the ethical and political controversies of abortion, hedonism and drug-taking, euthanasia, and sex ethics. It defends the position that human beings are both body and soul, with a fundamental and morally important difference from other animals. It defends the traditional position on the most controversial specific moral and political issues of the day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521882484
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/05/2007
Pages:	236
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

Patrick Lee is Director of the Bioethics Institute and Professor of Bioethics at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He is the author of Abortion and Unborn Human Life (1996), and his articles and review essays have appeared in American Journal of Jurisprudence, Bioethics, Faith and Philosophy, Philosophy, The Thomist, International Philosophical Quarterly, and other scholarly journals, as well as popular journals and online magazines.

Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He is a member of the President's Council on Bioethics and the Council of Foreign Relations, as well as a former member of the US Commission on Civil Rights. He is the author of numerous books, articles, and essays, including In Defense of Natural Law (1999) and The Clash of Orthodoxies (2001). He has also written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, First Things, the Boston Review, New Criterion, and the Times Literary Supplement.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Human beings are animals; 2. Human beings are persons; 3. Hedonism and hedonistic drug-taking; 4. Abortion; 5. Euthanasia; 6. Sex and the body.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Robert P. George... is this country’s most influential conservative Christian thinker."
-David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times

"This new book by Lee and George promises to be a book of singular importance and standing—a book whose arguments would have to be addressed by anyone seriously entering the discussions in this field. Lee and George address the most contentious issues in our politics— euthanasia, abortion, hedonism, same-sex marriage, homosexuality— yet they move with scrupulous fairness to give an accurate account of arguments ‘on the other side,’ and meet those arguments directly and fully."
Hadley Arkes, Amherst College

"Body-Self Dualism in Contemporary Ethics and Politics is a rigorous, bold defense of the biological, material unity and value of persons. Lee and George vigorously challenge competing accounts in philosophy of mind and personal identity, and then employ their unified theory of human nature to confront contemporary treatments of reproduction, sexual ethics, and other matters of practical moral concern. This book defends some controversial, ‘conservative’ values with systematic, clear arguments; it deserves a wide readership."
Charles Taliaferro, St. Olaf’s College

"The greatest interest lies in the detail of the argument and the way in which it illuminates the familiar while also producing unexpected insights and leading to a noble and convincing conception of human beings as at once living animals, intellectual subjects, and moral and spiritual beings...it will aid the much needed challenge to prevailing orthodoxies"
-First Things

Editorial Reviews

"Robert P. George... is this country’s most influential conservative Christian thinker."
-David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times

"This new book by Lee and George promises to be a book of singular importance and standing—a book whose arguments would have to be addressed by anyone seriously entering the discussions in this field. Lee and George address the most contentious issues in our politics— euthanasia, abortion, hedonism, same-sex marriage, homosexuality— yet they move with scrupulous fairness to give an accurate account of arguments ‘on the other side,’ and meet those arguments directly and fully."
Hadley Arkes, Amherst College

"Body-Self Dualism in Contemporary Ethics and Politics is a rigorous, bold defense of the biological, material unity and value of persons. Lee and George vigorously challenge competing accounts in philosophy of mind and personal identity, and then employ their unified theory of human nature to confront contemporary treatments of reproduction, sexual ethics, and other matters of practical moral concern. This book defends some controversial, ‘conservative’ values with systematic, clear arguments; it deserves a wide readership."
Charles Taliaferro, St. Olaf’s College

"The greatest interest lies in the detail of the argument and the way in which it illuminates the familiar while also producing unexpected insights and leading to a noble and convincing conception of human beings as at once living animals, intellectual subjects, and moral and spiritual beings...it will aid the much needed challenge to prevailing orthodoxies"
-First Things

From the Publisher