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The Boundaries of Humanity: The Ethics of Human–Animal Chimeras in Cloning and Stem Cell Research

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Is this Cell a Human Being?

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Abstract

Advances in molecular and cell biology are opening new possibilities for combining human and animal cells, tissues, and organs. These projects could have important scientific and medical benefits, but open ethical dilemmas that challenge our traditional notions of the boundaries of humanity. Beginning with an overview of the goals and likely limitations of this research, we seek a framework of fundamental principles that can at once open avenues of scientific advance and defend human dignity. Reflection on these difficult dilemmas can promote a deeper understanding and appreciation of what defines and distinguishes the human creature.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    While this concept of causation is often described as “hierarchical” or “top down,” it is more rightly recognized as a “systems-causation,” a seamless integration of action by the whole for the sake of the whole where causation is not exhaustively determined by the intrinsic properties of the particular parts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, CA, USA

    William B. Hurlbut

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  1. William B. Hurlbut
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Correspondence to William B. Hurlbut .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Institute for Interdisciplinary Stud, Berninastr. 85, Zürich, 8057, Switzerland

    Antoine Suarez

  2. , Genetic Medicine and Development, University of Geneva Medical School, Rue Michel-Servet 1, Geneva, 1211, Switzerland

    Joachim Huarte

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Hurlbut, W.B. (2011). The Boundaries of Humanity: The Ethics of Human–Animal Chimeras in Cloning and Stem Cell Research. In: Suarez, A., Huarte, J. (eds) Is this Cell a Human Being?. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20772-3_10

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