What It Means to Be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics

Written by O. Carter Snead

Narrated by Asa Siegel

The natural limits of the human body make us vulnerable and therefore dependent, throughout our lives, on others. Yet American law and policy disregard these stubborn facts, with statutes and judicial decisions that presume people to be autonomous, defined by their capacity to choose. As legal scholar O. Carter Snead points out, this individualistic ideology captures important truths about human freedom, but it also means that we have no obligations to each other unless we actively, voluntarily embrace them.

What It Means to Be Human makes the case for a new paradigm, one that better represents the gifts and challenges of being human. Inspired by the insights of Alasdair MacIntyre and Charles Taylor, Snead proposes a vision of human identity and flourishing that supports those who are profoundly vulnerable and dependent-children, the disabled, and the elderly. To show how such a vision would affect law and policy, he addresses three complex issues in bioethics: abortion, assisted reproductive technology, and end-of-life decisions. He concludes that, if the law is built on premises that reflect the fully lived reality of life, it will provide support for the vulnerable, including the unborn, mothers, families, and those nearing the end of their lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Feb 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781666162226

Reviews for What It Means to Be Human

[eitanhalevy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Necessary, terrifying and inspiring. An exploration of the gap between expressive individualist conceptions of humanity and the reality of embodied human beings and the catastrophic moral results of that gap in law and society.

[Peter Bogdanoff · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The book brings remarkable clarity to a very muddy situation.