Shaping Our Selves

One will read this book and be persuaded by the approachaThis volume will prove useful for those approaching this subject for the first time and Parens provides brief but useful discussions of various arguments in the enhancement controversies related to antidepressants and disabilities to illustrate both monocular and binocular approaches. Russell W. Askren, Metapsychology Online Reviews This is a wise and beautifully written book, which heralds the next wave in the bioethical analysis of the 'enhancement' uses of biomedical technologies and body-shaping surgeries. Parens' 'binocular' habit of thinking is just what the field needs now, and applies well beyond the specific issues addressed in this volume. Eric Juengst, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill In this cogent and lucidly written work, Parens provides a clear-headed and open-hearted approach to dealing with the vexing questions raised by enhancement technologies. The use of technologies by which humans try to shape their bodies and their destinies must be viewed, he persuades us, by using two lenses at once-an approach that achieves depth of intellectual vision by benefitting from the insights of critics and enthusiasts alike. In the end, we have to take a stance, but we come to it not through an agonistic 'win the argument' approach, but through a careful, empathetic understanding of both positions. This judicious approach is so desperately needed in a combative discipline like philosophy and its offspring bioethics and still more a world filled with conflict and strife where too many think only through one self-righteous and dogmatic lens. Chapter 6 alone is worth the price of the book. To look at enhancement technologies through Parens's binoculars is to bring them into lucid ethical focus. At the same time one sees a charming, gentle, and deeply knowledgeable man reaching out reconciling hands to fit together the insights from both critics and enthusiasts. Hilde Lindemann, Michigan State University This is a book of remarkable clarity and balance; it illuminates important issues in bioethics with a substantial degree of care and respect for opposing perspectives in difficult, ongoing debates about the body, identity, disability and technology. Erik Parens' determined vision of a middle-ground in these debates challenges the 'knockers' and the 'boosters' to abandon their respective megaphones and discover more of what they might have in common. This is an essential book especially for those starting out in bioethics; would that there were more books that gave students a balanced perspective on 'hot' issues from the start. Ilina Singh, Kings College London