Pragmatic resources for biotechnology

Larry A. Hickman

pp. 25-36

in: Jozef Keulartz, Michiel Korthals, Maartje Schermer, Tsjalling Swierstra (eds), Pragmatist ethics for a technological culture, Berlin, Springer, 2002

Abstract

It was with considerable pleasure that I read the essay entitled "Ethics in a Technological Culture: A Proposal for a Pragmatist Approach", co-authored by the organizers of the conference on "Bioethics and Pragmatism" (see Introduction). Their essay seemed to me to accomplish several important tasks, not the least of which was its call for a new vocabulary - one that would be designed to help answer the question of "how to live" in our changing technological landscape. I can only applaud their observation that the customary philosophical and ethical vocabulary is not properly equipped to formulate an appropriate answer to this question.