Modern Biotechnology in Postmodern Times?: A Reflection on European Policies and Human Agency

Preface. Acknowledgements. 1: Biotechnology In Modern Times. 1. The concept of modernity. 2. The concept of biotechnology. 2.1. Definitions. 2.2. Applications. 2: Council Of Europe Policies On Biotechnology. 1. The Parliamentary Assembly. 1.1. The beginnings. 1.2. Developments of doubt and difficulty. 1.3. A new convention as a solution. 1.4. Recent initiatives. 1.5. Results. 2. The Committee of Ministers. 2.1. Systematic beginnings. 2.2. The struggle for standards. 2.3. Results. 3. Council of Europe Conventions. 3.1. The European Convention on Human Rights. 3.2. The European Social Charter. 3.3. The European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine. 3.4. The Protocol on Human Cloning. 3.5. The Protocol on Transplantation. 4. Conclusion. 3: Biotechnology And Human Agency. 1. The human act. 2. Technique and technology. 3. Modern concepts of agency and identity. 4. Is 'biotechnology' merely a name. 4: Biotechnology Beyond Modernity. 1. A postmodern sketch of the human self. 2. Technology as bluff. 2.1. Human mastery. 2.2. The ambivalence of new techniques. 2.3. The dominating role of technology. 2.4. Conclusion. 3. The politics of contemporary biotechnology. Appendix. European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine ETS 164 (Full text) with list of declarations. Additional Protocol to the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine on the Prohibition of CloningHuman Beings ETS 168 (Full text) with list of declarations. Additional Protocol to the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine on Transplantation of Organs and Tissues of Human Origin. ETS 186. (Full text). References. Index.