A Companion to Genethics, a recent
volume in the "Blackwell Companions to Philosophy" series, offers a
lengthy survey of problems characteristic of genetic research and therapy. The
volume is comprised of 34 articles, mostly 10-15 pages in length, most by
well-known figures in the field; the entries are organized thematically into 5
sections ("I: Genetics: Setting the Scene"; "II: Genetic
Research"; "III: Gene Manipulation and Gene Selection";
"IV: Genotype, Phenotype, and Justice"; "V: Ethics, Law, and
Policy"). The articles are generally well-written; each surveys relevant
considerations or possible conflicts in its subject matter, with footnotes and
suggested readings, and collectively they cover a breadth of issues. The volume
as a whole is an in-depth resource on particular ethical issues related to
genetics, and a useful sampling of the field generally. It does have
limitations, however.

The
editors’ Introduction declares the book will "provide wide-ranging, scholarly
analysis of, and sometimes provocative insights into, all the major issues of
moral, political, and social significance which arise from . . . ‘the genetic
revolution’." In fact, the individual articles are each so narrowly drawn
that, while usually covering their own bases effectively and knowledgeably,
they do not provide comprehensive coverage of the field in its entirety. For
this reason, the volume does not work as an introductory text, or as a
comprehensive review, although it succeeds well enough in what it does do.

In Section
I, ostensibly, "the scientific stage for the rest of the sections is
set." But it contains only four articles, on current
"hot-button" ethical issues, none offering a general overview of
genetics for the novice or even a survey of the current state of genetic
research. Thus we have the inevitable article on stem cells, another on genetic
therapy, another (by "Dolly" pioneer Ian Wilmut) on cloning, and one
on the genetics of aging. Although there are many later articles on genetic
testing, pre-natal and post-natal genetic screening, "DNA banking",
and other technical issues, the underlying technologies are not addressed in
this "stage-setting" section, and technologies that are addressed are
not explained in detail. In short, the volume assumes considerable technical
sophistication on the part of the reader, which it does little to bolster in
this technical-introductory Section.

The
substantive articles are better, though again selective in focus. Section II,
on genetic research, emphasizes vulnerable populations. It includes the only
article not on human subjects — a piece by Bernard Rollin on the ethics of
genetic engineering and cloning in animals. There is also an article on Nazi
abuses and the Nuremburg Code, several on informed consent, attitudes toward
and the ethics of genetic testing on children and consent for same, and a
fascinating literary-ethical discursion by George Annas on genetic engineering
and "monster mythology" that considers researchers’ duties to society
at large. This Section covers many genetics applications but approaches them
from the perspectives of informed consent or decision-making authority. It
thereby extrapolates familiar research-ethics questions into the genetic realm,
but focuses on only a few of the many such ethical topics.

Section
III includes papers on pre-natal genetic selection and positive eugenics, as
well as others that may fit better elsewhere in the volume. John Harris writes
a general overview of stem cell research, covering most of the bases of this
now-familiar topic but with a glancing treatment and a decidedly partisan
approach. Mary Anne Warren’s piece on the moral status of the gene is a
fascinating treatment of a provocative proposition – that the individual gene
has independent moral status – offering her characteristic clarifying insight.
Ruth Macklin provides a short but effective overview of the general debate over
human cloning. The remaining papers address pre-implantation genetic diagnosis,
positive eugenics from a general perspective and in a liberal-autonomy-theory
framework, and sex selection from a feminist point of view. As before, these
articles together are not exhaustive of their theme, and, in this Section
particularly, many of them take an argumentative-advocacy stance that deprives
the reader of a more encyclopedic overview. However, there is some excellent
material here.

Section IV is perhaps the most "philosophical" in the volume,
with speculative articles tying genetics to traditional questions about human nature
and biological determinism, and others centering on problems of justice as
influenced by genetics. Carol Rovane offers an even-handed discussion of the
degree to which genes may constitute our identities as persons; Richard Dawkins
continues his ongoing fight for sociobiology, arguing for genetic explanations
for complex behaviors; and there are articles on the implications of
evolutionary theory (with emphasis on genetic concepts) for religion and human
nature, the inherent conflict (or lack thereof) between Western religion and
genetic therapy, and the genetic basis of "race". Questions of
justice addressed include the chance element of inheritance in the context of
our treatment of people with various medical/genetic conditions; the Nozickian
concept of self-ownership as applied to the creation of offspring from one’s
own genes, and commercial exploitation of the product of the Human Genome
Project. Some of these topics have become familiar in recent years, but other
articles use advances in genetics to provocatively illuminate traditional
philosophical issues.

Finally,
Section V introduces a variety of public-policy issues related to genetic
technology, including DNA "fingerprinting", privacy of genetic
information, genetic screening and genetic discrimination, and several articles
on patenting genes and genomes. The issues are timely and the authors are often
prominent experts on their topics.

All in
all, A Companion to Genethics is a
useful and stimulating volume. Many of its articles will be valuable for
readers with some expertise in the field; the volume does not work well for
those uninitiated to either the science or the philosophy it draws on, nor does
it serve as a comprehensive survey of the field. But it touches on many
important topics, which are treated sometimes with expert comprehensiveness and
sometimes with an advocate’s passion — both of which will well repay the
interested reader.

© 2005 Kevin T.
Keith

Kevin T. Keith, M.A., City College, CUNY

Categories: Genetics, Ethics, Philosophical