Scientific Innovation Philosophy And Public Policy Volume 13 Part 2

Recent and ongoing developments in science and technology--such as the prevention and treatment of disease through genetics and the development of increasingly sophisticated computer systems with wide-ranging applications--hold out the promise of vastly improving the quality of human life, but they can also raise serious ethical, legal, and public policy questions. The thirteen essays in this volume address these questions and related issues from a variety of perspectives.

This title was first published in 2000. This work documents an international and interdisciplinary workshop on the ethical aspects of the patenting of biotechnological inventions, including genes, plants and animals. The public perception is discussed, along with how these perceptions relate to ethical, social and cultural factors. The legal framework in Europe is laid out by several experts in the field of patent law and the situation in the US is also briefly described. This edition also includes a general discussion of three important theories called upon to justify the patent system: the natural rights argument; the distributive justice argument; and the utilitarian argument. The chapter about the European Directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions has been updated. A selection of provisions from the August 1997 draft as well as the final text of the Directive, as adopted on 12 May, 1998, are discussed and commented upon. The patent provisions of the TRIP's Agreement (the Agreement on Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property rights, concluded in 1994 as an Annex to the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization) are also discussed and criticized, paying particular attention to the implications for biotechnology patents. Finally, the question is asked whether the developing countries stand to gain anything from TRIPs. A look at the results of empirical research, conducted by commentators on the economics of patenting, reveals that the new patent regime may prove to entail significant costs for the developing countries. This second edition also contains material on the EU Directive on biotechnology patents adopted in May 1998, justificatory theories of the patent system and the TRIP's agreement on Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property rights, concluded in the GATT (WTO) framework.

The essays in this volume examine the nature of human flourishing and its relationship to a variety of other key concepts in moral theory. Some of them trace the link between flourishing and human nature, asking whether a theory of human nature can allow us to develop an objective list of goods that are of value to all agents, regardless of their individual purposes or aims. Some essays look at the role of friendships or parent-child relationships in a good life, or seek to determine whether an ethical theory based on human flourishing can accommodate concern for others for their own sake. Other essays analyze the function of families or other social-political institutions in promoting the flourishing of individuals. Still others explore the implications of flourishing for political theory, asking whether considerations of human flourishing can help us to derive principles of social justice.

First published in 1998, this volume has its origin in a meeting that was held in Santiago de Compostela University, Santiago de Compostela (Spain) in January 1996. The meeting was organized by the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science in cooperation with the Association for Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science in Spain. Within analytical philosophy issues such as the definability of truth, its semantic relevance, its role in the distinction between formal and natural languages, the status of truth-bearers or in its case of truth-makers, have become a crossroads in the studies of logic, philosophy of science, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, epistemology and ontology. Thus, in spite of what the title Truth in Perspective may suggest to the reader at first, the present volume is not only - though it is also a presentation of different theories or conceptions of truth. Most of the book presents a vision of different groups of philosophical questions in which the issue of truth appears embedded together with other related themes, from different points of view.

The essays in this volume examine the nature of virtue and its role in moral theory.

This book concentrates on the different ways in which the major world religions view the problems of overpopulation and excess resource consumption and how they approach possible solutions. After examining the natural background and the human context, the book moves on to consider both religious and secular approaches. It analyzes how a particular religion's scriptures comment on the nature of people, the environment, people's place in the environment, and their roles and responsibilities. The historical dimension is derived from reviewing a particular religion's record in teaching about these issues, often demonstrating how broader issues are addressed. Practical lessons are learned from religious guidelines that deal with current problems and offer solutions. The authors consider Aboriginal spirituality, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Chinese religions. The secular approaches include secular ethics, North-South relations, market forces, the status of women, and international law.

A calculation of the social returns to innovation /Benjamin F. Jones and Lawrence H. Summers --Innovation and human capital policy /John Van Reenen --Immigration policy levers for US innovation and start-ups /Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr --Scientific grant funding /Pierre Azoulay and Danielle Li --Tax policy for innovation /Bronwyn H. Hall --Taxation and innovation: what do we know? /Ufuk Akcigit and Stefanie Stantcheva --Government incentives for entrepreneurship /Josh Lerner.