Thesis (Ph. D. in Religion)--Vanderbilt University, May 2010. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, 1995. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-115).

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity International University, 2000. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-72).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, Deerfield, Ill., 1998. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 227-231).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 1988. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Diss.

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity International University, 2000. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-72).

Throughout the world, systems of life science governance carry historical, cultural, and political legacies, which now confront the revolutionary and pervasive advances of twenty-first century biotechnology. Nations' adaptability to the twin challenges of attempting to secure the benefits while reducing the risks and threats is a large and still burgeoning governance challenge. The legacy of the Soviet Union is particularly important in this regard, since its history of prolonged authoritarian rule and intense development of biological weapons in combination with the continuing scientific and technological prowess of Russia is a governance challenge, unprecedented in its nature and scale. The aim of the dissertation therefore is to examine to what extent and by what means it is possible for Russia to reconcile its on-going expansion in biotechnology with the institutional and normative inertia arising from its Soviet past. The first part of the dissertation (Chapters 1-4) seeks to uncover and analyse both the growth and consolidation of the governance of biotechnology and the multifaceted governance challenges brought about by the rapid advancement of the life sciences in the twenty-first century. The second part (Chapters 5-8) examines the extent to which the Soviet institutional and infrastructural legacies in the culture of life science research still persist in Russia and impact the governance of biotechnology in that country. The concluding chapter offers an assessment of the current state of the governance of biotechnology in Russia and outlines a scope for further research.

In the past fifty years, a need to address the ethical and social dimensions in the biosciences has become pervasive. To this end, notions of bioethics, and an associated range of methodologies have been institutionalised throughout the UK biosciences; talk of research ethics, public engagement, various forms of technology assessment, and recently notions of responsible innovation in technoscientific worlds is increasingly commonplace. A desire to unpack discourse and action surrounding these practices sits at the heart of this thesis. Of particular interest are the ways that different groups construct the ethical dimensions of biofuel development and deployment and then distribute responsibility for addressing them. To achieve this, I find analytic power by deploying theory from the interpretative social sciences, namely the sociology of bioethics and science and technology studies. Empirically, I use controversy about the development and deployment of biofuels as a means to analyse, primarily through documentary analysis and qualitative interview, how three prominent groups (non-governmental organisations, public research funders and scientists) construct understandings of ethics and then distribute responsibility for addressing those issues. This approach makes it possible to see that the constitution of ethical issues (their ‘form’) and the ways that they are addressed (the ‘task’ of ethics) are both tightly coupled to the situations from which they arise. They are thus fundamentally multiple, locally contingent and often unpredictable. Using a range of discursive strategies and actions, actors are able to negotiate, blurring in and out of focus, what counts as an appropriate issue of concern, who should be addressing it and how. Dominant traditions of theory and practice have a tendency to standardise the form and task of ethics, such as in terms of issue types (e.g. ‘Playing God’) and the methods for addressing them (e.g. public engagement). I argue that ethical dimensions’ situated nature should be acknowledged rather than ignored and is fundamental to making research more ‘socially robust’. However, this tension between dominant institutionalised forms and lived experiences is not easily resolved because it forces an engagement with the roles of those who are tasked with steering knowledge production. Hope is, however, offered by new approaches that have explicitly sought to deal with such tensions in new forms of knowledge production and new models of collaboration.

O objetivo desta pesquisa é explorar a motivação e as potenciais complicações do uso da tecnologia para melhorar fundamentalmente a condição humana. Inicialmente a pesquisa se debruçará sobre alguns pressupostos filosóficos básicos para a discussão deste melhoramento. Para tal será abordado a heurística evolutiva proposta por Anders Sandberg e Nick Bostrom, em seguida será apresentado brevemente alguns traços básicos da condição humana a saber: cognição, moralidade e ligação afetiva de acordo com a perspectiva da psicologia evolucionista, um passo importante na heurística evolutiva supramencionada. A seguir o trabalho versará especificamente sobre melhoramentos que tenham como alvo a própria moralidade humana, inicialmente sobre as fortes motivações de realizar tal melhoramento, e ao final sobre os riscos e problemas tanto filosóficos como técnicos de tentar realizar tal modificação na moralidade humana. Tentativamente, a análise será original ao (1) aceitar pressupostos dos defensores do melhoramento moral, e sua conclusão de que o mesmo é um imperativo caso conduzido de maneira correta, (2) abandonar alguns dos possíveis contra-argumentos, no entanto, também (3) concluir a existência de severos problemas em potencial no que tange ao melhoramento moral / The intent of this research is to investigate the motivations and potential risks of using technology to alter the human condition. Firstly, it will explore some of the basic philosophical assumptions behind such discussions. Hence, it will evaluate the evolutionary heuristics proposed by Anders Sandberg and Nick Bostrom and its potential for solving many issues arising when considering human enhancement, therefore introducting one basic philosophical ground when arguing for or against these modifications. Thence, it will be given an introduction to some basic traits of the human condition, e.g.: cognition, morality and pair-bonding, from the perspective of Evolutionary Psychology. Such traits will be then considered as targets for human enhancement. These are important steps in, and thus a application of, the aforementioned evolutionary heuristics. Secondly, this dissertation will specifically investigate the risks of using technology to alter human morality. It will focus on the possibility that attempting to improve human moral dispositions moral enhancement could in fact yield a future without moral value. This analysis will be tentatively novel in that it will focus on risks that could arise even if the claims of moral enhancement advocates are true and some arguments against it unsound