News
Right-wing radicalism conference leads to a book
Jill Greenlee publishes in Political Psychology
Ira Shapiro to speak on "The Last Great Senate" on April 24th
Jolyon Howorth to speak on "The EU as a Global Power" on April 11th
Retired US Air Force officer to speak on counter-terrorism
Shai Feldman writes on the Middle East peace process in The National Interest
"Global Terrorism" course to host two special guest speakers
Daniel Kryder to offer Justice Brandeis Semester (JBS) "American Democracy: Ver 2.0" in Summer 2013
Mideast expert Aaron Miller keynoting student Israel conference
Jeffrey Lenowitz to join politics department faculty in January 2014
Shai Feldman writes on Israeli elections in Al Monitor
Mideast experts to discuss Israeli election prospects (video)
Anja Karnein (Ph.D. '04) publishes new book on reproductive rights
Sanford Levinson to speak about American constitutions on November 5
Michael Sandel '75 to speak at JustBooks event on October 31
Four new politics courses for Spring 2013
Bernard Yack to give keynote address at Harvard Graduate Conference in Political Theory
Jill Greenlee and Daniel Kryder to participate in forum on race and gender in 2012 campaign
Daniel Kryder discusses presidential debates with Boston Public Radio
Jytte Klausen to give briefing before U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
William Galston to give annual Gordon Center talk October 4
Dissertation Research Support Grants from the Research Circle on Democracy and Cultural Pluralism
Jytte Klausen writes on the Muhammad Film controversy in Foreign Affairs
Robert Art talks to Brandeis NOW about the joy of teaching first-years
Jytte Klausen featured speaker at Oslo conference on multiculturalism
Anja Karnein (Ph.D. '04) publishes new book on reproductive rights
Nov. 17, 2012
Anja J. Karnein, Politics Ph.D. '04 and Assistant Professor at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany has published A Theory of Unborn Life: From Abortion to Genetic Manipulation with Oxford University Press (2012).
From Oxford University Press:
"In light of new biomedical technologies, such as artificial reproduction, stem cell research, genetic selection and design, the question of what we owe to future persons-and unborn life more generally-is as contested as ever. In A Theory of Unborn Life: From Abortion to Genetic Manipulation, author Anja J. Karnein provides a novel theory that shows how our commitments to persons can help us make sense of our obligations to unborn life. We should treat embryos that will develop into persons in anticipation of these persons. But how viable is this theory? Moreover, what does it mean to treat embryos in anticipation of the future persons they will develop into?
Exploring the attractiveness of this approach for Germany and the U.S. - two countries with very different legal approaches to valuing unborn life - Karnein comes to startling conclusions to some of today's greatest ethical and legal debates. Under Karnein's theory, abortion and stem cell research are legitimate, since embryos that do not have mothers willing to continue to assist their growth have no way of developing into persons. However, Karnein also contends that where the health of embryos is threatened by third parties or even by the women carrying them, embryos need to be treated with the same care due to the children that emerge from them. In the case of genetic manipulation, it is important to respect future persons like our contemporaries, respecting their independence as individuals as well as the way they enter this world without modification. Genetic interventions are therefore only legitimate for insuring that future persons have the necessary physical and mental endowment to lead independent lives so as to be protected from being dominated by their contemporaries. Evincing polarization and dogma, Karnein's clean, philosophically-driven analysis provides a sound ethical foundation for the interpretation of any variety of legal dilemmas surrounding unborn life."