The Ethics of Food - by Gregory E Pence (Paperback)

About the Book

In The Ethics of Food, Gregory E. Pence brings together a collection of voices who share the view that the ethics of genetically modified food is among the most pressing societal questions of our time. This comprehensive collection addresses a broad range of subjects, including the meaning of food, moral analyses of vegetarianism and starvation, the safety and environmental risks of genetically modified food, issues of global food politics and the food industry, and the relationships among food, evolution, and human history.

Book Synopsis

Food makes philosophers of us all. Death does the same . . . but death comes only once . . . and choices about food come many times each day. In The Ethics of Food, Gregory E. Pence brings together a collection of voices who share the view that the ethics of genetically modified food is among the most pressing societal questions of our time. This comprehensive collection addresses a broad range of subjects, including the meaning of food, moral analyses of vegetarianism and starvation, the safety and environmental risks of genetically modified food, issues of global food politics and the food industry, and the relationships among food, evolution, and human history. Will genetically modified food feed the poor or destroy the environment? Is it a threat to our health? Is the assumed healthfulness of organic food a myth or a reality? The answers to these and other questions are engagingly pursued in this substantive collection, the first of its kind to address the broad range of philosophical, sociological, political, scientific, and technological issues surrounding the ethics of food.

Review Quotes

"An excellent introduction for undergraduates. A broad range of problems is treated in an engaging and lucid manner. Nice bibliographies." --Dr. S. N. Fratantaro, Providence College

"Nicely produced." --Food Science and Technology

"Both the publishers and the editor are to be commended for bringing together such diverse viewpoints in one, easy-to-read volume." --Experimental Agriculture

"The reader is led to compellingly consider the pressing issues of starvation, the consumption of meat and the benefits and dangers of genetically modified food." --Science and Theology News

"Finally, we have a book that speaks to one of the most pressing, though under-examined, issues in our biotech age. Greg Pence has produced, again, a stimulating and timely text. Crisp and comprehensive in its approach, The Ethics of Food takes stock of the morally imperative questions surrounding food production, modification, and consumption, particularly their global impact upon ecosystems. The text offers a judicious menu of readings that articulate differing perspectives from various fields. Combining scholarship and access, this pioneering work insightfully underscores the ongoing tension between food biotechnologies and biodiversity, compelling us to move toward reasonable resolutions." --Michael Brannigan, executive director, Center for the Study of Ethics, La Roche College

About the Author

Gregory E. Pence is a medical ethicist with twenty years of experience reviewing significant cases in bioethics, and is professor in the School of Medicine and the Department of Philosophy at the University of Alabama. Pence has contributed to theNew York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and the Journal of the American Medical Association. He is the author of Classical Cases in Medical Ethics: Accounts of the Cases that Shaped Medical Ethics, 3rd edition (2000) and Who's Afraid of Human Cloning? (1998).