Review by Choice Review
Zylinska (Goldsmiths, Univ. of London, UK) provides a critique of professional bioethics while exploring an alternative that is non-humanistic and non-normative. The Internet, talk shows, and tabloid newspapers publicize medical and scientific issues, creating a situation where "we are all bioethicists now." However, this broadening of the audience for bioethics has not resulted in a broadening of the debate, because the new media tend to perpetuate traditional ethical positions that are strongly normative and claim to be universally binding. Thus, by polarizing bioethical issues, the new media outlets shut off discussion and create "moral panics." Zylinska criticizes utilitarianism, deontology, and other traditional ethical systems for their human centeredness, arguing that biotechnology has created a world in which boundaries separating humans, animals, and machines are indistinct and fluid. Drawing on contemporary cultural theorists and Continental philosophers including Foucault, Derrrida, Levinas, and Agamben, Zylinska examines cases such as extreme makeover television shows and bioart created by genetically engineering animals. She acknowledges that these practices may be exploitive, but argues that each situation is a unique moral event that cannot be prejudged. These issues are of broad interest, but the book may be too arcane for general readers. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students through professionals. J. B. Hagen Radford University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
