Introduction

Nearly every week the general public is treated to an announcement of another actual or potential “breakthrough” in biotechnology. Headlines trumpet advances in assisted reproduction, current or prospective experiments in cloning, and developments in regenerative medicine, stem cell technologies, and tissue engineering. Scientific and popular accounts explore the perils and the possibilities of enhancing human capacities by computer-based, biomolecular, or mechanical means through advances in artificial intelligence, genetics, and nanotechnology. Reports abound concerning ever more sophisticated genetic techniques being introduced into agriculture and animal husbandry, as well as efforts to enhance and protect biodiversity. Given the pace of such developments, many insightful commentators have proclaimed the 21st century as the “biotechnology century.”

Despite a significant literature on the morality of these particular advances in biotechnology, deeper ethical analysis has often been lacking. Our preliminary review of that literature suggested that current discussions of normative issues in biotechnology have suffered from two major deficiencies. First, the discussions have been too often piecemeal in character, limited to after-the-fact analyses of particular issues that provoked the debate, and unconnected to larger concepts and themes. Second, a crucial missing element of those discussions has been the failure to reflect explicitly on the diverse disciplinary conceptions of nature and the natural that shape moral judgments about the legitimacy of specific forms of research and their applications. Often, only minimal connections are drawn between judgments about particular issues and the deeper conceptual discussions of nature and the natural. These minimal connections tend to reflect simplistic readings rather than richer understandings informed by the diversity of perspectives and interpretations actually found within particular disciplines and modes of discourse. This crucial point deserves further elaboration.