Changing Nature’s Course

Biotechnology marks a new scientific revolution. It holds the promise of generating resources to meet our needs in the fight against hunger, disease and environmental disasters. However, critics argue that biotechnology will jeopardize evolution and add incalculable, self-made risks to the fragile conditions of life on this planet.

By providing solid information about a new and fascinating scientific development and by exploring the complexity of its ethical dilemmas, this collection offers orientation in a difficult terrain and stimulates the search for answers adequate to the severity of the challenge.

Readership: For academics (in medical, scientific and social disciplines), government officials and politicians interested in the implications of the latest developments in biotechnology.

Gerhold K. Becker holds degrees in philosophy and theology and taught for ten years at the university of Munich before coming to Hong Kong in 1986. He is currently Chair Professor of Philosophy and Religion and Director of the Centre for Applied Ethics at Hong Kong Baptist University. James P. Buchanan holds degrees from Yale and University of Chicago. He has taught at University of Montana, Bucknell University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He is currently the Caroline Werner Gannett Professor of Humanities at The Rochester Institute of Technology.