Valuing Life

Description

Abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, war, genetic engineering and fetal experimentation, environmental and animal rights--these topics inspire some of today's most heated public controversies. And it is fashionable to pursue these debates in terms of the negative query "Under what conditions may life be disregarded or terminated?" John Kleinig

One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1992 "This is a very comprehensive survey of the way in which the idea of life's value has been used to sustain or deny a quite staggering range of moral claims. Everything is here, from the respect that might be owed to the tiniest micro-organism to the claims that the entire ecosystem makes upon us. It is a pleasure to follow an intelligent and uncompromising mind through such an exhaustive list of the fundamental questions of morality. Few will be able to read [Valuing Life secure that all their prejudices and beliefs about the value of life will remain intact."--Times Literary Supplement