Aquinas on the Beginning and End of Human Life

Aquinas on the Beginning and End of Human Life

Author: Fabrizio Amerini

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2013-06-10

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 0674073460

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In contemporary discussions of abortion, both sides argue well-worn positions, particularly concerning the question, When does human life begin? Though often invoked by the Catholic Church for support, Thomas Aquinas in fact held that human life begins after conception, not at the moment of union. But his overall thinking on questions of how humans come into being, and cease to be, is more subtle than either side in this polarized debate imagines. Fabrizio Amerini—an internationally-renowned scholar of medieval philosophy—does justice to Aquinas’ views on these controversial issues. Some pro-life proponents hold that Aquinas’ position is simply due to faulty biological knowledge, and if he knew what we know today about embryology, he would agree that human life begins at conception. Others argue that nothing Aquinas could learn from modern biology would have changed his mind. Amerini follows the twists and turns of Aquinas’ thinking to reach a nuanced and detailed solution in the final chapters that will unsettle familiar assumptions and arguments. Systematically examining all the pertinent texts and placing each in historical context, Amerini provides an accurate reconstruction of Aquinas’ account of the beginning and end of human life and assesses its bioethical implications for today. This major contribution is available to an English-speaking audience through translation by Mark Henninger, himself a noted scholar of medieval philosophy.


Book Synopsis Aquinas on the Beginning and End of Human Life by : Fabrizio Amerini

Download or read book Aquinas on the Beginning and End of Human Life written by Fabrizio Amerini and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2013-06-10 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In contemporary discussions of abortion, both sides argue well-worn positions, particularly concerning the question, When does human life begin? Though often invoked by the Catholic Church for support, Thomas Aquinas in fact held that human life begins after conception, not at the moment of union. But his overall thinking on questions of how humans come into being, and cease to be, is more subtle than either side in this polarized debate imagines. Fabrizio Amerini—an internationally-renowned scholar of medieval philosophy—does justice to Aquinas’ views on these controversial issues. Some pro-life proponents hold that Aquinas’ position is simply due to faulty biological knowledge, and if he knew what we know today about embryology, he would agree that human life begins at conception. Others argue that nothing Aquinas could learn from modern biology would have changed his mind. Amerini follows the twists and turns of Aquinas’ thinking to reach a nuanced and detailed solution in the final chapters that will unsettle familiar assumptions and arguments. Systematically examining all the pertinent texts and placing each in historical context, Amerini provides an accurate reconstruction of Aquinas’ account of the beginning and end of human life and assesses its bioethical implications for today. This major contribution is available to an English-speaking audience through translation by Mark Henninger, himself a noted scholar of medieval philosophy.

The Beginnings of Human Life

The Beginnings of Human Life

Author: E. Blechschmidt

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 1461263476

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Book Synopsis The Beginnings of Human Life by : E. Blechschmidt

Download or read book The Beginnings of Human Life written by E. Blechschmidt and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Beginning of Human Life

The Beginning of Human Life

Author: Frauke Beller

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-03-09

Total Pages: 562

ISBN-13: 9401582572

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Progress in biomedical science has called for an international discussion of the medical, ethical, and legal problems that confront physicians, medical researchers, infertile couples, pregnant women, and parents of premature or disabled infants. In addition, the unprecedented technological developments in obstetrical, perinatal, and neonatal medicine in recent years have indicated a need for an international forum for interdisciplinary dialogue regarding the definition of early human life, the neurological development of early human life, the value of early human life, the obligations for its protection and prolongation, and the limits to these obligations.


Book Synopsis The Beginning of Human Life by : Frauke Beller

Download or read book The Beginning of Human Life written by Frauke Beller and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Progress in biomedical science has called for an international discussion of the medical, ethical, and legal problems that confront physicians, medical researchers, infertile couples, pregnant women, and parents of premature or disabled infants. In addition, the unprecedented technological developments in obstetrical, perinatal, and neonatal medicine in recent years have indicated a need for an international forum for interdisciplinary dialogue regarding the definition of early human life, the neurological development of early human life, the value of early human life, the obligations for its protection and prolongation, and the limits to these obligations.

Icons of Life

Icons of Life

Author: Lynn Morgan

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2009-09-09

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 0520944720

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Icons of Life tells the engrossing and provocative story of an early twentieth-century undertaking, the Carnegie Institution of Washington's project to collect thousands of embryos for scientific study. Lynn M. Morgan blends social analysis, sleuthing, and humor to trace the history of specimen collecting. In the process, she illuminates how a hundred-year-old scientific endeavor continues to be felt in today's fraught arena of maternal and fetal politics. Until the embryo collecting project-which she follows from the Johns Hopkins anatomy department, through Baltimore foundling homes, and all the way to China-most people had no idea what human embryos looked like. But by the 1950s, modern citizens saw in embryos an image of "ourselves unborn," and embryology had developed a biologically based story about how we came to be. Morgan explains how dead specimens paradoxically became icons of life, how embryos were generated as social artifacts separate from pregnant women, and how a fetus thwarted Gertrude Stein's medical career. By resurrecting a nearly forgotten scientific project, Morgan sheds light on the roots of a modern origin story and raises the still controversial issue of how we decide what embryos mean.


Book Synopsis Icons of Life by : Lynn Morgan

Download or read book Icons of Life written by Lynn Morgan and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2009-09-09 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Icons of Life tells the engrossing and provocative story of an early twentieth-century undertaking, the Carnegie Institution of Washington's project to collect thousands of embryos for scientific study. Lynn M. Morgan blends social analysis, sleuthing, and humor to trace the history of specimen collecting. In the process, she illuminates how a hundred-year-old scientific endeavor continues to be felt in today's fraught arena of maternal and fetal politics. Until the embryo collecting project-which she follows from the Johns Hopkins anatomy department, through Baltimore foundling homes, and all the way to China-most people had no idea what human embryos looked like. But by the 1950s, modern citizens saw in embryos an image of "ourselves unborn," and embryology had developed a biologically based story about how we came to be. Morgan explains how dead specimens paradoxically became icons of life, how embryos were generated as social artifacts separate from pregnant women, and how a fetus thwarted Gertrude Stein's medical career. By resurrecting a nearly forgotten scientific project, Morgan sheds light on the roots of a modern origin story and raises the still controversial issue of how we decide what embryos mean.

The Deepest Human Life

The Deepest Human Life

Author: Scott Samuelson

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2014-04-03

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 022613041X

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This accessible and thought-provoking introduction to philosophy shows how the eternal questions can shed light on our lives and struggles. These days, we generally leave philosophical matters to professional philosophers. Scott Samuelson thinks this is tragic, for our lives as well as for philosophy. In The Deepest Human Life, he restores philosophy to its proper place at the center of our humanity, rediscovering it as our most profound effort toward understanding, as a way of life that anyone can live. Exploring the works of some of history’s most important thinkers in the context of the everyday struggles of his students, Samuelson guides readers through the most vexing quandaries of existence—and shows just how enriching the examined life can be. Samuelson begins at the beginning: with Socrates, and the method he developed for approaching our greatest mysteries. From there he embarks on a journey through the history of philosophy, demonstrating how it is encoded in our own personal quests for meaning. Through heartbreaking stories, humanizing biographies, accessible theory, and evocative interludes like “On Wine and Bicycles” or “On Zombies and Superheroes,” Samuelson invests philosophy with the personal and vice versa. The result is a book that is at once a primer and a reassurance—that the most important questions endure, coming to life in each of us. Winner of the 2015 Hiett Prize in the Humanities


Book Synopsis The Deepest Human Life by : Scott Samuelson

Download or read book The Deepest Human Life written by Scott Samuelson and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2014-04-03 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This accessible and thought-provoking introduction to philosophy shows how the eternal questions can shed light on our lives and struggles. These days, we generally leave philosophical matters to professional philosophers. Scott Samuelson thinks this is tragic, for our lives as well as for philosophy. In The Deepest Human Life, he restores philosophy to its proper place at the center of our humanity, rediscovering it as our most profound effort toward understanding, as a way of life that anyone can live. Exploring the works of some of history’s most important thinkers in the context of the everyday struggles of his students, Samuelson guides readers through the most vexing quandaries of existence—and shows just how enriching the examined life can be. Samuelson begins at the beginning: with Socrates, and the method he developed for approaching our greatest mysteries. From there he embarks on a journey through the history of philosophy, demonstrating how it is encoded in our own personal quests for meaning. Through heartbreaking stories, humanizing biographies, accessible theory, and evocative interludes like “On Wine and Bicycles” or “On Zombies and Superheroes,” Samuelson invests philosophy with the personal and vice versa. The result is a book that is at once a primer and a reassurance—that the most important questions endure, coming to life in each of us. Winner of the 2015 Hiett Prize in the Humanities

Ethics at the Beginning of Life

Ethics at the Beginning of Life

Author: James Mumford

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2013-06-13

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 0199673969

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Many declare the debate about abortion to be hopelessly polarised, between conservatives and liberals, between forces religious and secular. In this book Mumford upends this received wisdom and challenges consensus, arguing that many dominant attitudes and argument fail to take into account the particular way human beings 'emerge' in the world.


Book Synopsis Ethics at the Beginning of Life by : James Mumford

Download or read book Ethics at the Beginning of Life written by James Mumford and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-06-13 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many declare the debate about abortion to be hopelessly polarised, between conservatives and liberals, between forces religious and secular. In this book Mumford upends this received wisdom and challenges consensus, arguing that many dominant attitudes and argument fail to take into account the particular way human beings 'emerge' in the world.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Author: Megan Best

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781921896613

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What sort of contraception, if any, should I use? When does human life begin-at fertilisation or at some point after that? What are the arguments for and against abortion? Is it OK to use genetic screening and other pre-natal tests to check for abnormalities in my unborn baby? Should Christians use IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies? What is the current state of embryonic stem cell research? These are just some of the many complex and emotion-laden questions we face in the rapidly changing field of reproductive medicine, and most Christians do so with two very significant handicaps: We dont have accurate up-to-date information about the medical and technological issues involved; we have not thought through a sound, biblical framework for making ethical decisions in this area. Dr Megan Best provides what is lacking in both of these vital areas. Built on extensive historical, biblical and medical research, FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE is the comprehensive, accurate, biblically-based ethical handbook that Christians have been waiting for.


Book Synopsis Fearfully and Wonderfully Made by : Megan Best

Download or read book Fearfully and Wonderfully Made written by Megan Best and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What sort of contraception, if any, should I use? When does human life begin-at fertilisation or at some point after that? What are the arguments for and against abortion? Is it OK to use genetic screening and other pre-natal tests to check for abnormalities in my unborn baby? Should Christians use IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies? What is the current state of embryonic stem cell research? These are just some of the many complex and emotion-laden questions we face in the rapidly changing field of reproductive medicine, and most Christians do so with two very significant handicaps: We dont have accurate up-to-date information about the medical and technological issues involved; we have not thought through a sound, biblical framework for making ethical decisions in this area. Dr Megan Best provides what is lacking in both of these vital areas. Built on extensive historical, biblical and medical research, FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE is the comprehensive, accurate, biblically-based ethical handbook that Christians have been waiting for.

The Value of a Human Life

The Value of a Human Life

Author: Karel Innemée

Publisher:

Published: 2022-04-20

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 9789464260571

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Experts from different disciplines present new insights into the subject of ritual homicide in various regions of the ancient world.


Book Synopsis The Value of a Human Life by : Karel Innemée

Download or read book The Value of a Human Life written by Karel Innemée and published by . This book was released on 2022-04-20 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Experts from different disciplines present new insights into the subject of ritual homicide in various regions of the ancient world.

Prehistory

Prehistory

Author: Chris Gosden

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 153

ISBN-13: 0198803516

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Recent archaeological discoveries from China and central Asia have changed our understanding of how human civilization developed in the period of some 4 million years before the start of written history. In this new edition of his Very Short Introduction, Chris Gosden explores the current theories on the ebb and flow of human cultural variety.


Book Synopsis Prehistory by : Chris Gosden

Download or read book Prehistory written by Chris Gosden and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent archaeological discoveries from China and central Asia have changed our understanding of how human civilization developed in the period of some 4 million years before the start of written history. In this new edition of his Very Short Introduction, Chris Gosden explores the current theories on the ebb and flow of human cultural variety.

Born in Africa

Born in Africa

Author: Martin Meredith

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2011-08-18

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 0857206672

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Africa does not give up its secrets easily. Buried there lie answers about the origins of humankind and the dawn of civilisation. Through a century of archaeological investigation, scientists have transformed our understanding of the beginnings of human life, although vital clues still remain hidden. In Born in Africa, Martin Meredith follows the trail of discoveries about our human origins made by scientists over the last hundred years, as well as describing the history of scholarship in this incredibly exciting field. He relates the intense rivalries, personal feuds and fierce controversies that shaped the study and perception of Africa, and recounts the feats of skill and endurance that have illuminated thousands of years of human evolution. The results have been momentous. Scientists have identified more than twenty species of extinct humans and firmly established Africa as the birthplace not only of humankind, but also of our own species: homo sapiens, the modern human. Scientific study has revealed how early technology, language ability and artistic endeavour all originated in Africa, and scientists have shown how, in an exodus sixty thousand years ago, small groups of Africans left their birthplace to populate the rest of the world. We all have an African legacy, and in this fascinating and informative book Martin Meredith leads us back to the place where we have rediscovered our common human heritage.


Book Synopsis Born in Africa by : Martin Meredith

Download or read book Born in Africa written by Martin Meredith and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-08-18 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Africa does not give up its secrets easily. Buried there lie answers about the origins of humankind and the dawn of civilisation. Through a century of archaeological investigation, scientists have transformed our understanding of the beginnings of human life, although vital clues still remain hidden. In Born in Africa, Martin Meredith follows the trail of discoveries about our human origins made by scientists over the last hundred years, as well as describing the history of scholarship in this incredibly exciting field. He relates the intense rivalries, personal feuds and fierce controversies that shaped the study and perception of Africa, and recounts the feats of skill and endurance that have illuminated thousands of years of human evolution. The results have been momentous. Scientists have identified more than twenty species of extinct humans and firmly established Africa as the birthplace not only of humankind, but also of our own species: homo sapiens, the modern human. Scientific study has revealed how early technology, language ability and artistic endeavour all originated in Africa, and scientists have shown how, in an exodus sixty thousand years ago, small groups of Africans left their birthplace to populate the rest of the world. We all have an African legacy, and in this fascinating and informative book Martin Meredith leads us back to the place where we have rediscovered our common human heritage.