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About the book
We have now entered what has been called the “biological century” and with it, a new biopolitics has emerged to address the implications for America’s collective value system, our wellbeing, and ultimately, our future. The Body Politic is the first book to recognize and assess this new force in our political landscape—one that fuels today’s culture wars and one that politicians of all stripes have begun to see as a new way to organize their platforms. As Moreno clearly explains the most contentious issues, he also offers an engaging history of the intersection between science and democracy in American life, a reasoned analysis of how different political ideologies view scientific controversies, and a vision for how the new biopolitics can help shape the future quality of our lives.
Reviews and press coverage
“Jonathan Moreno contiues to be the quietly most interesting bioethicist of our time….[t]he most penetrating characterization and analysis of the shrill political battles fought over the use of our new biotechnologies (and the battles to come).”
—American Journal of Bioethics
“Moreno shows how biological discoveries aggravate cultural tensions, challenge our political system and values, and stimulate debate about the place of science and scientists in America. . . . Sophisticated, useful, and well-written.”
—Library Journal
“An impassioned defense of scientific study . . . an essential dose of logic.”
—Salon
“Moreno clarifies major points of science-society tension over the last half century and brings a sharp eye to the societal context confronting future advances and their applications.”
—Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D., Executive Publisher, Science
About the author
Jonathan D. Moreno is a Senior Fellow at American Progress, where he edits the magazine, Science Progress.
He is one of 13 Penn Integrates Knowledge university professors at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also professor of medical ethics and health policy, of history and sociology of science, and of philosophy. In 2008-09 he served as a member of President Barack Obama’s transition team.
Moreno is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine/National Academy of Sciences and is a national associate of the National Research Council. He has served as a senior staff member for three presidential advisory commissions, including the current bioethics commission under President Obama, and has given invited testimony for both houses of Congress.
Moreno has served as adviser to many nongovernmental organizations, including the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He is a member of the Governing Board of the International Neuroethics Society, a faculty affiliate of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University, a fellow of the Hastings Center and the New York Academy of Medicine, and a past president of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities. He advises various science, health, and national security agencies and serves as a member of the Defense Intelligence Agency’s TIGER committee on potentially disruptive novel technologies.
He was an Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral fellow, holds an honorary doctorate from Hofstra University, and is a recipient of the Benjamin Rush Medal from the College of William and Mary Law School.