The introduction of human stem cells into developing animals is an impoortant research tool, but has stirred up considerable public controversy. This talk explores the ethical issues raised by creating individuals that are part animal and part human.
How is the human/animal distinction policed? We will address this question from two different disciplinary perspectives: Literature and Life Sciences. Sainath Suryanarayanan will consider some of the assumptions underlying the use of animals in scientific experimentation and its sociological implications. Mario Ortiz-Robles will consider theliterary uses of animal imagery as a means of defining, affirming, and challenging the distinction between human and non-human animals.
Children in their everyday life make decisions about what is animate and what is not as well as who is human and who is not. At different stages of development these decisions are modified. Studies of children can inform the examination of what constitutes our own conception of who and what is human and who and what is not.
What is Human? The Human Genome Project hoped to provide some insight for this staggering question by decoding all of the genetic information that contributes to our matchless status as humans. But, remarkably, our bodies harbor ten times as many microbial cells as human ones. These tiny creatures have mightily influenced our evolutionary history and now govern our development, our metabolism, and our health. We are home to a unique community of human flora. Thus, in a very tangible way, responding to the topic question requires that we understand our microbial collaborators.
"Definitions of human have ranged from the social to the genetic and back. But in the intermediate levels, function has often been at the heart of inclusion. Children have occupied liminal positions between the human and non-human at many times and in many ways. Those with disabilities too have lived in a gray zone. What has been the fate of children with disabilities, doubly liminal? In this lunch talk, we'll examine the 'meaning' of such children over the last two hundred years, particularly as defined by health care professionals working with them. The resulting variations in inclusivity will add to our discussion of what is human?"
