Where is American democracy made? In this path-breaking study of bioethics bodies, Hurlbut finds answers in an unexpected place. Tracing the contorted history of US debates on human embryo research, he brilliantly reveals the power accorded to scientific authority in establishing the preconditions, and even the right language, for valid moral reasoning. Full of original insights, and supported by a ... Read morewealth of archival research, this is political theory remade with the tools of science and technology studies. It deserves a place beside John Rawls' seminal works on democratic deliberation and public reason.
Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Harvard Kennedy School In this book, Hurlbut takes the social analysis of public bioethics to the next and higher level. With a focus on how bioethics claims are justified in liberal democratic societies and with a keen interpretive eye on debates about human embryos, I found many of his analyses to be profoundly insightful. This book is a must read for anyone interested in bio-policy in general and public bioethics in particular.
John H. Evans, University of California, San Diego A well-documented and rigorously argued book that analyzes the modes of public reason that have guided U.S. debates about the human embryo. Hurlbut shows how prevailing modes of reasoning gave science a constitutional role in configuring the terms of ethical discourse. Experiments in Democracy offers a fascinating study of the role of scientific authority in deliberation about bioethical issues in the United States. Important for understanding bioethical debates and the contemporary politics of American democracy.
Stephen Hilgartner, Department of Science & Technology Studies, Cornell University Show Less