Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Ethics of Synthetic Life: A Jaina Perspective *

Ethics of Synthetic Life: A Jaina Perspective * Many Western philosophers, from Aristotle through Descartes and even Collingwood and Whitehead, have regarded the material world to be largely inert and subject to human intervention. The modern period has yielded more nuanced definitions of nature, seeing the process of life as self-generating and self-sustaining. The Jaina worldview, dating from the first several centuries before the common era, has developed an elaborate biological schematic that attributes sentience and hence soul to even the elements of earth, water, fire, and air. They also developed a sophisticated ethical response to the “livingness” of things. The Jaina attitudes toward synthetic life are explored at the end of the paper, suggesting that even engineered cells would nonetheless possess the qualities of life that must be valued and protected. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Worldviews Brill

Ethics of Synthetic Life: A Jaina Perspective *

Worldviews , Volume 17 (1): 77 – Jan 1, 2013

Loading next page...
 
/lp/brill/ethics-of-synthetic-life-a-jaina-perspective-EvO7baA7xC

References (8)

Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
Subject
Articles
ISSN
1363-5247
eISSN
1568-5357
DOI
10.1163/15685357-01701007
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Many Western philosophers, from Aristotle through Descartes and even Collingwood and Whitehead, have regarded the material world to be largely inert and subject to human intervention. The modern period has yielded more nuanced definitions of nature, seeing the process of life as self-generating and self-sustaining. The Jaina worldview, dating from the first several centuries before the common era, has developed an elaborate biological schematic that attributes sentience and hence soul to even the elements of earth, water, fire, and air. They also developed a sophisticated ethical response to the “livingness” of things. The Jaina attitudes toward synthetic life are explored at the end of the paper, suggesting that even engineered cells would nonetheless possess the qualities of life that must be valued and protected.

Journal

WorldviewsBrill

Published: Jan 1, 2013

Keywords: synthetic life; Jainism; soul; sentience; nature

There are no references for this article.