Is biotechnology the new alchemy?

Kirkham, Georgiana

doi:10.1016/j.shpsa.2008.12.004

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Although the current technoscientific drive to reconstructing life has been compared to alchemy before (Kirkham, 2009;Nicholls, 2004), a Jungian analysis allows us to make this type of comparison more specific and precise, with the help of key concepts such as the mandala archetype. The synthetic cell mandala can be regarded as a dialectical blending of bio-molecular knowledge with active imagination, as we have seen.…”

Section: Individuation: Restoring the Wholementioning

confidence: 99%

The Synthetic Cell as a Techno-scientific Mandala: a Jungian Analysis of Synthetic Biology Research

Zwart

2018

International Journal of Jungian Studies

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This paper analyses the technoscientific objective of building a synthetic cell from a Jungian perspective. After decades of fragmentation and specialisation, the synthetic cell symbolises a turn towards restored wholeness, both at the object pole (putting the fragments together again) and at the subject pole (synthetic biology as a converging field, a Gesamtwissenschaft, fostering individuation). From a Jungian perspective, it is no coincidence that visual representations of synthetic cells often reflect an archetypal, mandala-like structure. As a symbol of restored unity, the synthetic cell mandala compensates for technoscientific fragmentation via active imagination, providing a visual aid for the technoscientific turn towards reintegration. Although the biotechnological desire to reconstruct life in vitro has been compared to alchemy before, a Jungian analysis allows us to make this comparison more specific and precise. The problem of archetypal images, however, is that alluring prospects of reintegration may underestimate and obfuscate the deficiencies and tensions at work in the current situation. As a projection of a future wholeness, it fosters optimism, but may also function as a misleading façade, covering up collisions and complexities. This can be averted by the conscious employment of the mandala as a symbolic scaffold fostering processes of individuation and working through.

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Section: Individuation: Restoring the Wholementioning

confidence: 99%

The Synthetic Cell as a Techno-scientific Mandala: a Jungian Analysis of Synthetic Biology Research

Zwart

2018

International Journal of Jungian Studies

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“…Synthetic biologists are blind to innumerable previous attempts at making life in a test-tube, from medieval alchemy to twentieth-century dreams of engineering life. [30] Although synthetic biologists benefit from unprecedented technical means, their strategies are not always novel. They re-enact schemes developed by alchemists and synthetic chemists.…”

Section: Historical Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Between the possible and the actual: Philosophical perspectives on the design of synthetic organisms

Vincent

2013

Futures

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A number of research projects in synthetic biology funded by public institutions sound like science fiction: for instance DARPA Biodesign project in 2011 aimed at eliminating "the randomness of natural evolutionary advancement, and designing proteins with a 99.5% precision. How should we take such claims? Are they just fantastic visions or hype meant to impress funding agencies and the public or are they symptoms of a specific epistemic attitude? In considering the visions of the future developed in synthetic biology the paper attempts to evaluate the research agendas of synthetic biology from philosophical perspectives. It will first characterize the ambition to re-engineer life and distinguish the visions of the future underlying the various research agendas assembled under the umbrella synthetic biology. Then addressing the question 'who actually believes in such futures?' the paper contrasts the complicit belief of ethicists and critical activists with the doubts occasionally formulated by synthetic biologists. Doubts however never generate scepticism within the synthetic biology community, which develops an epistemic opportunism. Finally the third section discusses to what extent, and in which sense, the futuristic visions of synthetic biology belong to the genre of techno-utopia. It concludes that imagined futures are integral part of the techno-epistemic culture of synthetic biology and that the tension between the possible and the actual is a criterion of distinction between the various trends that constitute synthetic biology.

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“…Likewise, new advances in technology often elicit popular ethical responses that involve some appeal to the moral value of nature or naturalness But, unlike the pressing global environmental issues and the bourgeoning technological advancement that characterise the 21st century, this kind of ethical appeal to nature is not a recent development. Technological advances and environmental concerns have, for centuries, provoked questions concerning naturalness, and proposals to limit human manipulation of the natural world [1] (pp. 70-80).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Virtue Ethics Interpretation of the ‘Argument from Nature’ for Both Humans and the Environment

Kirkham

2024

Philosophies

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Appeals to the moral value of nature and naturalness are commonly used in debates about technology and the environment and to inform our approach to the ethics of technology and the environment more generally. In this paper, I will argue, firstly, that arguments from nature, as they are used in debates about new technologies and about the environment, are misinterpreted when they are understood as attempting to put forward categorical objections to certain human activities and, consequently, their real significance is often overlooked. Secondly, arguments from nature, particularly as they are used in the context of debates over the use of new technologies, can be understood as appealing to human nature as a way to determine human limitations. Thirdly, arguments from nature can inform our discussion of what it is to be a human being or a person, and this kind of discussion can, in turn, inform our ethical deliberations in such areas of bioethics as euthanasia, abortion, etc. Finally, I conclude that a proper understanding of these arguments can help in establishing which virtues and which vices relate to our relationship with the non-human world—that is, which character dispositions are relevant to an environmental virtue ethics, with human nature as its foundation. A proper understanding of the argument from nature provides the basis for a ‘virtuously anthropocentric’ environmental ethics.

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Is biotechnology the new alchemy?

Cited by 8 publications

References 22 publications

The Synthetic Cell as a Techno-scientific Mandala: a Jungian Analysis of Synthetic Biology Research

The Synthetic Cell as a Techno-scientific Mandala: a Jungian Analysis of Synthetic Biology Research

Between the possible and the actual: Philosophical perspectives on the design of synthetic organisms

A Virtue Ethics Interpretation of the ‘Argument from Nature’ for Both Humans and the Environment

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