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Currently, the ethics infrastructure - from medical and scientific training to the scrutiny of ethics committees - focuses on trying to reform informed consent to do a job which it is simply not capable of doing. Consent, or choice, is not an effective ethical tool in public ethics and is particularly problematic in the governance of genetics. Heather Widdows suggests using alternative and additional ethical tools and argues that if individuals are to flourish it is necessary to recognise and respect communal and public goods as well as individual goods. To do this she suggests a two-step process - the 'ethical toolbox'. First the harms and goods of the particular situation are assessed and then appropriate practices are put in place to protect goods and prevent harms. This debate speaks to core concerns of contemporary public ethics and suggests a means to identify and prioritise public and common goods.
Currently, the ethics infrastructure - from medical and scientific training to the scrutiny of ethics committees - focuses on trying to reform informed consent to do a job which it is simply not capable of doing. Consent, or choice, is not an effective ethical tool in public ethics and is particularly problematic in the governance of genetics. Heather Widdows suggests using alternative and additional ethical tools and argues that if individuals are to flourish it is necessary to recognise and respect communal and public goods as well as individual goods. To do this she suggests a two-step process - the 'ethical toolbox'. First the harms and goods of the particular situation are assessed and then appropriate practices are put in place to protect goods and prevent harms. This debate speaks to core concerns of contemporary public ethics and suggests a means to identify and prioritise public and common goods.
1. The individual self and its critics; 2. The individualist assumptions of bioethical frameworks; 3. The genetic self is the connected self; 4. The failures of individual ethics in the genetic era; 5. The communal turn; 6. Developing alternatives: benefit sharing; 7. Developing alternatives: trust; 8. The ethical toolbox part one: recognising goods and harms; 9. The ethical toolbox part two: applying appropriate practices; 10. Possible futures.
Heather Widdows suggests new ethical frameworks for genetic governance, to replace those that offer little protection and permit significant injustice.
Heather Widdows is a Professor in the philosophy department at the University of Birmingham, where she teaches moral philosophy, bioethics, global ethics and health and happiness.
'Widdows' argument … not only clearly demonstrates the need for new
ways of thinking about contemporary issues in genetics and
genomics, but also highlights the ways in which ethics itself
co-evolves with science.' Ruth Chadwick, Distinguished Research
Professor, Cardiff University and Director, Cesagen
'If bioethics is to be less blinkered, it needs a new approach -
one that collects the required 'tools' and then applies them in a
way that is responsive to the full range of material harms and
goods. The Connected Self is a compelling read.' Roger Brownsword,
Kings College London and Chair, UK Biobank Ethics and Governance
Council
'With a battery of philosophical arguments, Widdows soon convinces
the reader that our current ethical framework, the choice model,
has to go … Informative, scholarly and yet extremely accessible.'
Lisa Bortolotti, Birmingham University
'In setting out how genetics makes ethical individualism redundant
- itself an important and timely argument - Heather Widdows at the
same time puts neo-liberal 'morality' firmly in its place.' Bob
Brecher, University of Brighton
'Provides a strong and urgently needed call to 'clean up our act'
as regards the ethical governance of genetics … Reading this book
reminded me why I became an ethicist.' Sigrid Sterckx, Ghent
University
'As with all good ethicists, Widdows takes on the ambitious,
substantive, and difficult task of offering a foundation for
ethical inquiry. Her main contention is that individualistic
ethical frameworks are fundamentally flawed because individuals are
incomplete, and are best understood as parts of a community.'
William Simkulet, Metapsychology Online Reviews
'In short, there is plenty of room for piqued interests. Perhaps
this is ultimately what Widdows wants, and in this sense, The
Connected Self shines. Its message is valuable and forces you to
think. For our individual and common good, may it ignite
impassioned bioethical debate.' Edward S. Dove, New Genetics and
Society
'The richness of Widdows' analyses is clear. Her reflections and
insights for genetic governance in The Connected Self should be
recommended to emerging practitioners in genomics, law and/or
health policy. No doubt, the book makes a valuable contribution to
the movement towards a more inclusionary, reflexive and
contextually embedded bioethics for genetic governance.' Vasiliki
Rahimzadeh, Bioéthique Online (bioethiqueonline.ca)
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