Abstract
Biopharming is a new way of an old task: constructing transcendences. We transcend our skills, our time and our body. The ethical concern, to use or to misuse the freedom of our creativity, does not differ from traditional farming. But the anthropological impact differs, as people of the twenty-first century are ready to cross the borders of bodily existence by biotechnology. This is shaped by the question how this technology follows the previous courses of transcending our lives: history and religion. As the creations of god reflect his glory, the products of pharming could reflect the glory and beauty of ourselves. But shall they do this? The anthropological impact of this technology is whether we make it a technical way of recreating ourselves or we make it a human way of developing our world through a technologically-driven change of mind.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
I will use “biopharming” and “chemical pharming” synonymously.
- 2.
Compare this to the general aspects of Nunziata Comoretto’s Chap. 6 in this volume.
- 3.
The term “anthropology” will be used to describe the philosophical and theological knowledge about man––in contrast to the Anglo-American use of “anthropology” as a biological term.
- 4.
Compare to the presentation of Nunziata Comoretto’s Chap. 6 in this volume.
- 5.
Compare to widango.net. In January 2001, traditional crops constituted paddy, ragi, maize, and niger. With the advent of the NGO WIDA (Weaker Integrated Development Agency) in Orissa’s Koraput District, India, the tribal people have been taught to cultivate more economic crops, such as potatoes, beans, cabbage, cauliflowers, ginger, and chillies. One model village is Porjapungar. Before the NGO came to this village, the villagers barely managed to coax out two or three crops, such as maize and onions, from the soil. Now, the villagers have a better idea about cultivation. This development intervention follows the way of “traditional” farming and it has helped in more ways than just in cultivation or increasing income levels through it.
References
Brueggemann W (1987) Theology of land. In: Evans BF, Cusack GD (eds) Theology of the land. Liturgical Press, Collegeville
Cohen GA (1995) Marx and Locke on land and labour. In: Cohen GA (ed) Self-ownership, freedom and equality. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Engelhard M, Hagen K, Boysen M (2008) Genetic engineering in livestock, new applications and interdisciplinary perspectives. Springer, Berlin
Evans BF, Cusack GD (1987) Theology of the land. Liturgical Press, Collegeville
Gehlen A (1957) Die Seele im technischen Zeitalter. Sozialpsychologische Probleme in der industriellen Gesellschaft. Rowohlt, Hamburg
Graf FW (1990) Von der creatio ex nihilo zur Bewahrung der Schöpfung. Dogmatische Erwägungen zur Frage nach einer möglichen ethischen Relevanz der Schöpfungslehre. Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche 87:206–223
Hefner P (2003) Technology and human becoming. Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis
Heyd D (1992) Genethics, moral issues in the creation of people. University of California Press, Cambridge, 53f
Kant I (1977) Werke in zwölf Bänden. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 7:264–266
Pardo R et al (2009) The role of means and goals in technology acceptance. A differentiated landscape of public perceptions of pharming. EMBO Rep 10:1069–1075
Plessner H (1928) Die Stufen des Organischen und der Mensch, Einleitung in die philosophische Anthropologie. De Gruyter, Berlin
Rawls J (1999) The law of peoples. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Rendtorff T (1988) Vertrauenskrise? Benerkungen zum Gebrauch des Topos Bewahrung der Schöpfung. Zeitschrift für Evangelische Ethik 32:245–249
Rosenberger M (2007) Is power-dolly our future food? Ethical aspects of farm animal cloning. In: Secretariat of the EGE (ed) The ethical aspects of animal cloning for food supply, Proveeding of the Roundtable Debate, 24–25 September, Brussels. http://ec.europa.eu/european_group_ethics/docs/food_supply_animal_cloning_ethical_aspects.pdf. Accessed Oct 2010
Schockenhoff E (1998) First sheep, then human being? theological and ethical reflections on the use of gene technology. In: Junker-Kenny M, Cahill LS (eds) The ethics of genetic engineering. SCM Press, London, pp 85–92
Zenger E (1988) Alttestamentlich-jüdischer Sabbat und neutestamentlich-christlicher Sonntag. Informationen 1:11–13
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Basel AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Siegemund, A. (2012). From Farming to Pharming: Transcending of Bodily Existence as a Question of Medical Ethics in an Intercultural Context. In: Schildmann, J., Sandow, V., Rauprich, O., Vollmann, J. (eds) Human Medical Research. Springer, Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-0390-8_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-0390-8_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Basel
Print ISBN: 978-3-0348-0389-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-0348-0390-8
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)