Since the first fertilization of a human egg in the laboratory in 1968, scientific and technological breakthroughs have raised ethical dilemmas and generated policy controversies on both sides of the ...Atlantic. Embryo, stem cell, and cloning research have provoked impassioned political debate about their religious, moral, legal, and practical implications. National governments make rules that govern the creation, destruction, and use of embryos in the laboratory-but they do so in profoundly different ways.
InEmbryo Politics, Thomas Banchoff provides a comprehensive overview of political struggles aboutembryo research during four decades in four countries-the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. Banchoff's book, the first of its kind, demonstrates the impact of particular national histories and institutions on very different patterns of national governance. Over time, he argues, partisan debate and religious-secular polarization have come to overshadow ethical reflection and political deliberation on the moral status of the embryo and the promise of biomedical research. Only by recovering a robust and public ethical debate will we be able to govern revolutionary life-science technologies effectively and responsibly into the future.
The Discrete Theorema Egregium Banchoff, Thomas F.; Günther, Felix
The American mathematical monthly,
01/2024, Letnik:
131, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
In 1827, Gauss proved that Gaussian curvature is actually an intrinsic quantity, meaning that it can be calculated just from measurements within the surface. Before, curvature of surfaces could only ...be computed extrinsically, meaning that an ambient space is needed. Gauss named this remarkable finding Theorema Egregium. In this paper, we discuss a discrete version of this theorem for polyhedral surfaces. We give an elementary proof that the common extrinsic and intrinsic definitions of discrete Gaussian curvature are equivalent.
The politics of stem cell research poses a puzzle: the explanation of different national responses to the same scientific breakthroughs. Policy struggles across the major scientific powers have ...revolved around similar values—the protection of human life and solidarity with the sick—but generated very different regulatory outcomes. Bringing in historical and institutional legacies can shed light on those differences. The article develops an analytical framework around the path-dependent effects of state institutions on value-driven issues and applies it to the politics of stem cell research in the United Kingdom and Germany. Historical institutionalism, it argues, can be extended beyond the study of political economy and the welfare state to issues marked by sharp value conflict.
Legitimacy and the European Union Thomas Banchoff, Mitchell Smith / Thomas Banchoff, Mitchell Smith
2005, 1999, 20050812, 2005-08-12, 1999-01-28
eBook
Since the Maastricht ratification debate of the early 1990s, the legitimacy of the European Union has become a subject of controversy. With unprecedented force, Europeans have begun to question the ...need for deeper integration. Some fear threats to established national identities, while others perceive the emergence of a distant but powerful Brussels, beyond the reach of democratic control. Legitimacy and the European Union breaks with established approaches to the problem of the legitimacy of the European Union by focusing on the recent trend towards reconceptualization of the EU not as a superstate or an organization of states, but as a multi-level, contested polity without precedent. The book examines the implications of this reconceptualization for the problem of legitimacy. Individual chapters focus on policy areas, institutions and identity politics. Taken together, they reach two main conclusions. While Europeans do not strongly identify with the EU, they increasingly recognize it as a framework for politics alongside existing national and subnational structures. And while the EU lacks central democratic institutions, the integration process has spawned significant informal and pluralist forms of representation. Rethinking recognition and representation ouside the context of the nation state points to important, if little understood, actual and potential sources of EU legitimacy.
The Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits, is the most successful and enduring global missionary enterprise in history. Founded by Ignatius Loyola in 1540, the Jesuit order has preached the ...Gospel, managed a vast educational network, and shaped the Catholic Church, society, and politics in all corners of the earth. Rather than offering a a global history of the Jesuits or a linear narrative of globalization, Thomas Banchoff and José Casanova have assembled a multidisciplinary group of leading experts to explore what we can learn from the historical and contemporary experience of the Society of Jesus-what do the Jesuits tell us about globalization and what can globalization tell us about the Jesuits? Contributors include comparative theologian Francis X. Clooney, SJ, historian John W. O'Malley, SJ, Brazilian theologian Maria Clara Lucchetti Bingemer, and ethicist David Hollenbach, SJ. They focus on three critical themes-global mission, education, and justice-to examine the historical legacies and contemporary challenges. Their insights contribute to a more critical and reflexive understanding of both the Jesuits' history and of our contemporary human global condition.
A comprehensive series of essays exploring Peter C.
Phan's groundbreaking work to widen Christian theology beyond the
Western world
Peter C. Phan's wide-ranging contributions to theology and his
...pioneering work on religious pluralism, migration, and Christian
identity have made a global impact on the field.
The essays in Theology without Borders offer a variety
of perspectives across Phan's fundamental work in eschatology,
world christianity, interreligious dialogue, and much more.
Together, these essays offer a comprehensive assessment of Phan's
groundbreaking work across a range of theological fields. Included
in the conversation are discussions of world Christianity and
migration, Christian identity and religious pluralism, Christian
theology in Asia, Asian American theology, eschatology, and Phan's
lasting legacy.
Theology without Borders provides a welcome overview
for anyone interested in the career of Peter C. Phan, his body of
work, and its influence.
Peter C. Phan's contributions to theology and pioneering work on
religious pluralism, migration, and Christian identity have made a
global impact on the field. The essays in Theology without
Borders offer a variety of perspectives across Phan's
fundamental work, providing an overview for anyone interested in
his body of work and its influence.
Does the new, more powerful Germany pose a threat to its neighbors? Does the new German Problem resemble the old? The German Problem Transformed addresses these questions fifty years after the ...founding of the Federal Republic and ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Many observers have underscored the reemergence of Germany as Europe's central power. After four decades of division, they contend, Germany is once again fully sovereign; without the strictures of bipolarity, its leaders are free to define and pursue national interests in East and West. From this perspective, the reunified Germany faces challenges not unlike those of its unified predecessor a century earlier. The German Problem Transformed rejects this formulation. Thomas Banchoff acknowledges post-reunification challenges, but argues that postwar changes, not prewar analogies, best illuminate them. The book explains the transformation of German foreign policy through a structured analysis of four critical postwar junctures: the cold war of the 1950s, the détente of the 1960s and 1970s, the new cold war of the early 1980s, and the post-cold war 1990s. Each chapter examines the interaction of four factors--international structure and institutions, foreign policy ideas, and domestic politics--in driving the direction of German foreign policy at a key turning point. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of German history, German politics, and European international relations, as well as policymakers and the interested public.
Flatland Abbott, Edwin A.; Lindgren, William F.; Banchoff, Thomas F.
11/2009
eBook
Flatland, Edwin Abbott's story of a two-dimensional universe, as told by one of its inhabitants who is introduced to the mysteries of three-dimensional space, has enjoyed an enduring popularity from ...the time of its publication in 1884. This fully annotated edition enables the modern-day reader to understand and appreciate the many 'dimensions' of this classic satire. Mathematical notes and illustrations enhance the usefulness of Flatland as an elementary introduction to higher-dimensional geometry. Historical notes show connections to late-Victorian England and to classical Greece. Citations from Abbott's other writings as well as the works of Plato and Aristotle serve to interpret the text. Commentary on language and literary style includes numerous definitions of obscure words. An appendix gives a comprehensive account of the life and work of Flatland's remarkable author.
