Responsible Genetics

The volume addresses a number of well-known issues - the ethical, legal, and social implications of human genetics - but does so from a perspective that has received almost no attention: the perspective of the scientific community itself. The rhetoric of "scientific responsibility" is prominent in many discussions of genetic research ethics, but the concept is seldom defined. This book provides a more precise analysis of what it could mean. In distinction to what is common in the ELSI literature, the book also discusses bioethical method. A new kind of casuistry is developed on the basis of the empirical findings of cognitive semantics. The book should be of interest to philosophers, bioethicists, and geneticists. Because it addresses broad policy issues, it should also be of interest to science policymakers.