Redefining Reality - The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science

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We have looked at both chemical and genetic medicine and their ability to make us better but still maintain some unique human identity. We think of surgery and life-support technology as medical because they are used to restore, preserve, or enhance health. But what should we think about using these technologies for “cosmetic” purposes? In some cases, the difference between medical and cosmetic procedures is clear. Quadruple bypass surgery is obviously medical, while an injection of Botox to eliminate wrinkles is obviously cosmetic. Optometrists originally used a diluted amount of botulinum toxin to help people who suffer from blepharospasms, uncontrollable twitching of the eyelid. Injection of an control the twitching, bringing about relief from the symptom. In the 1980s, plastic surgeons discovered that this same toxin could be used to smooth out wrinkles. The ability to remove signs of aging means that aspects of our bodies that were once unavoidable facts of life became choices. By selecting to have or not have wrinkles, we turn biological processes into fashion. We can now make a cultural statement by allowing our bodies to age naturally or by arresting the appearance of these changes. Experience once implied wisdom, and displays of age gave one respect and standing. But now, displays of youth imply vitality; a different cultural value system is advanced with advancing technology. procedures is to say that a procedure is medical if it restores something to its natural state and cosmetic if it takes one intentionally out of a natural state. Wrinkles are a natural part of the face; thus, the use of Botox to make one better than natural is cosmetic. But its use to deaden the muscles controlling the eyelids returns the body to its natural state; thus, that treatment is medical. 224
The problem here is that sometimes blepharospasms are natural, and sometimes they are brought about by environmental causes. The same is true, of course, of wrinkles. If we try to use natural or unnatural to draw the line, we can’t separate the two uses of Botox because wrinkles and eye spasms are equally natural. There is, however, a difference. Although both eye spasms and wrinkles may be natural in that they are a part of what nature had in store for a person based on genetics and environment, in one case, the treatment returns the person to a state where he or she can live a normal life, and in the other case, the treatment isn’t necessary for living a normal life. Perhaps, then, the difference between medical normal. Let’s consider another example. Macromastia, abnormal enlargement of the breast tissue, is a medical condition that can result in pain, ulceration of the skin around the breasts, and back problems. Breast reduction surgery for such cases is considered medical. Interestingly, the American Society for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons has argued that breast enlargement should be considered medical treatment for micromastia (having small breasts), which can cause psychological or argument, but it raises a question we need to consider: Should psychological distress or cultural harm be considered in deciding whether something is a disorder that requires a medical response? Disorder (ADD). Without question, there are physiological reasons that some people have shorter attention spans than others. This in itself has no adverse medical effects. But in a culture that emphasizes schooling of young children in preparation for college attendance, a short attention span can seriously limit an individual’s options. 225
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Topic Philosophy & Intellectual His
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Steven Gimbel, Ph.D. Professor of P
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Table of Contents LECTURE 11 Dark M
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Table of Contents SUPPLEMENTAL MATE
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: I and technological a
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This question allows us to turn fro
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The study of reality is what philos
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Semmelweis noticed that the inciden
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ut sometimes, even after checking t
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. The Matrix. We don’t believe
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Wisdom comes from rejecting the imp
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Thus, Aristotle’s prime mover, th
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Aristotle had said that an object
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For centuries, mathematics was cons
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th century, the Russian mathematici
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had turned their attention to logic
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Abbott, . Bell, Men of Mathematics.
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Scientists thought that the physica
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H. A. Lorentz had found, when you a
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Thinkers as far back as Gottfried L
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E grounds. First, the prin
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If you woke up tomorrow in a small
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speed up going in and slow down com
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Is it true that a difference that m
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Einstein thought, there would be lo
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Scientists largely hated this idea,
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If Gamow and Alpher’s work was ri
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Although physicists at the end of t
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In the 19 th century, there was the
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In 1873, James Clerk Maxwell publis
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The idea of a large central mass at
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We know, however, that for a given
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whether light is a particle or a wa
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is a particle, then the slits would
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One of the early results of quantum
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eams, we also knew that there were
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The hadrons are made up of quarks,
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As the meaning of the physics began
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The demon is a being with a super-i
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ignoring certain elements, we can c
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One of the simplest fractal pattern
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Earlier, we talked about Thomas Kuh
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so greatly separated that no proces
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een able to form in that environmen
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Nicolson, . Panek, . Our theories
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Similarly, James Clerk Maxwell, in
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But as we move away from the pole,
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Great press has been given to a pot
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Some people take the idea of a theo
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see from CAT scans that when someon
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Because we are just atoms, we, too,
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Would the randomness of quantum mec
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Aristotle thought that this world i
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If you select strange enough traits
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Although this aspect of the theory
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Darwin posited that children look l
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The key to understanding how we pas
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This picture of illness is quite di
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How much of who we are is determine
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inferred that the function of that
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a byproduct of mental illness, Freu
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With the genetic approach, we are w
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After Freud, psychology developed i
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experiences that are not our own, t
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Behaviorism was an attempt to make
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Psychology, which had begun as a se
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I th century, psychology had the lu
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part, in the group. To understand t
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acting in ways that showed a lack o
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has learned from the so-called barb
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led him to begin one of the most fa
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ules. We are now adult in our ethic
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In a contract-based relationship, y
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The study of psychology changed for
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Instead, we are a part of the world
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But it turns out that exposure to c
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Glickstein, . Lynch, . mean we
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But evolutionary psychologists Leda
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suited to solving these problems an
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As such, when we look at the innate
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In looking at reality, we can exami
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We see this also in the writings of
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one universal is crime. Crime is no
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To avoid such situations of anomie
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Historians create narratives that e
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Society is composed of individuals
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© Digital Vision/Thinkstock.
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The concept of race has long been a
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there are different combinations am
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Perhaps race is what Durkheim calle
Page 181 and 182: Gould, . Hernnstein and Murray, . K
Page 183 and 184: Slavery, for example, was a necessa
Page 185 and 186: Parsons’s picture is not the Marx
Page 187 and 188: In defeat, the smaller neighbors wo
Page 189 and 190: Economics became a science with the
Page 191 and 192: self-interest. Second, the large-sc
Page 193 and 194: Under the classical model, this sho
Page 195 and 196: How do we account for these effects
Page 197 and 198: If the star is large enough, when i
Page 199 and 200: © amenic181/iStock/Thinkstock.
Page 201 and 202: What environment on Earth could pro
Page 203 and 204: The possibility of life on other pl
Page 205 and 206: Our newfound alien interlocutors te
Page 207 and 208: Perhaps the best evidence for extra
Page 209 and 210: Mayor and Frei, . Morrison, Billing
Page 211 and 212: It has long been argued, however, t
Page 213 and 214: But the idea of using the body’s
Page 215 and 216: Although that seems worrisome, it i
Page 217 and 218: I equally much for how w
Page 219 and 220: The use of one’s DNA in creating
Page 221 and 222: With cytoplasmic transfer, the nucl
Page 223 and 224: Macintosh, . Given that multiple
Page 225 and 226: we could begin with the desired por
Page 227 and 228: The second step is trickier. Here,
Page 229 and 230: Aside from medical uses, we can alt
Page 231: We can now use medical technology t
Page 235 and 236: of disease and disorder. In America
Page 237 and 238: performance-enhancing drugs? We see
Page 239 and 240: Advances have led to hand-shaped ap
Page 241 and 242: Warwick then went a step further. H
Page 243 and 244: Scientists at MIT have taken DNA fr
Page 245 and 246: Computers can do many things, but c
Page 247 and 248: possible right answers. The machine
Page 249 and 250: player having a king and a pawn and
Page 251 and 252: If intelligence or sentience is an
Page 253 and 254: enable us to become a global villag
Page 255 and 256: engineers used their technological
Page 257 and 258: Another intriguing development on t
Page 259 and 260: In these lectures, we’ve seen tha
Page 261 and 262: leave messages or comments, and whe
Page 263 and 264: This ability of mothers doesn’t m
Page 265 and 266: But Einstein showed us that the rea
Page 267 and 268: Barabasi, Albert-Laszlo. Linked: Th
Page 269 and 270: ———. The Descent of Man: and
Page 271 and 272: Gilligan, Carol. . Cambridg
Page 273 and 274: Kramer, Peter. . New York: Viking
Page 275 and 276: eings that we are willing to act in
Page 277 and 278: Rothman, Sheila M. Medical Enhance
Page 279 and 280: ———. . London: Century, 2002.
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Redefining Reality - The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science

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