Humanity faces an ecological predicament, consisting of a cluster of concurrent, mutually reinforcing crises. They are causally intertwined and resistant to resolution in isolation. In addition to climate disruption, the cluster includes land-system change, loss of biodiversity and biosphere integrity, alteration of biogeochemical cycles, and decreased freshwater availability. Madison Powers argues for a targeted human rights approach to the resolution of our predicament. He assigns priori...

Madison Powers and Ruth Faden here develop an innovative theory of structural injustice that links human rights norms and fairness norms. Norms of both kinds are grounded in an account of well-being. Their well-being account provides the foundation for human rights, explains the depth of unfairness of systematic patterns of disadvantage, and locates the unfairness of power relations in forms of control some groups have over the well-being of other groups. They explain how human rights viol...

Ethical Issues in Biotechnology is the first textbook of its kind, written collaboratively by a philosopher and a biologist to provide undergraduate students with a comprehensive, accessible introduction to the ethical and scientific fundamentals of biotechnology. Engaging the ethics and the science side by side, the text addresses pressing questions in agricultural, food, and animal biotechnology; human genetics; gene therapy; human cloning; and stem cell research.A gener...

In bioethics, discussions of justice have tended to focus on questions of fairness in access to health care: is there a right to medical treatment, and how should priorities be set when medical resources are scarce. But health care is only one of many factors that determine the extent to which people live healthy lives, and fairness is not the only consideration in determining whether a health policy is just. In this pathbreaking book, senior bioethicists Powers and Faden confront foundati...

In bioethics, discussions of justice have tended to focus on questions of fairness in access to health care: is there a right to medical treatment, and how should priorities be set when medical resources are scarce. But health care is only one of many factors that determine the extent to which people live healthy lives, and fairness is not the only consideration in determining whether a health policy is just. In this pathbreaking book, senior bioethicists Powers and Faden confront foundati...

What if the universe didn't begin with a bang, but with a rule?In Law & Limit: The Architecture of the Infinite, independent theorist Kiet Anh Le redefines the origin of existence itself. Every event, every equation, presupposes structure — meaning that Law, not matter or time, is the true beginning of reality.Through a blend of logic, mathematics, and metaphysics, Le reveals a profound architecture of being built on three principl...

Continuing his groundbreaking analysis of economic structures, Douglass North develops an analytical framework for explaining the ways in which institutions and institutional change affect the performance of economies, both at a given time and over time. Institutions exist, he argues, due to the uncertainties involved in human interaction; they are the constraints devised to structure that interaction. Yet, institutions vary widely in their consequences for economic performance; some econo...

"Ridley leaps from chromosome to chromosome in a handy summation of our ever increasing understanding of the roles that genes play in disease, behavior, sexual differences, and even intelligence. . . . . He addresses not only the ethical quandaries faced by contemporary scientists but the reductionist danger in equating inheritability with inevitability." — The New YorkerThe genome's been mapped. But what does it mean? Matt Ridley’...

Designed specifically for sociology of the family courses, this text examines the choices and constraints placed on individuals, relationships, and marriages in light of both family circumstances and societal expectations. Using an interdisciplinary approach that draws on the latest research in sociology, psychology, anthropology, and social history, the author explores emerging patterns in family life, including rising rates of cohabitation among both heterosexual and same-sex couples; trend...

The next time you get sick, consider this before picking up the aspirin: your body may be doing exactly what it's supposed to. In this ground-breaking book, two pioneers of the science of Darwinian medicine argue that illness as well as the factors that predispose us toward it are subject to the same laws of natural selection that otherwise make our bodies such miracles of design. Among the concerns they raise:When may a fever be beneficial?Why do pregnant women get morning ...

BY THE WINNER OF THE 2020 NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY | Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize“A powerful mix of science and ethics . . . This book is required reading for every concerned citizen—the material it covers should be discussed in schools, colleges, and universities throughout the country.”— New York Review of BooksNot since the atomic bomb has a technology so alarmed its inventors that they warned the world...

What's wrong with markets in everything? Markets today are widely recognized as the most efficient way in general to organize production and distribution in a complex economy. And with the collapse of communism and rise of globalization, it's no surprise that markets and the political theories supporting them have seen a considerable resurgence. For many, markets are an all-purpose remedy for the deadening effects of bureaucracy and state control. But what about those markets we might labe...