Bodies For Sale

Bodies for Sale: Ethics and Exploitation in the Human Body Trade explores the philosophical and practical issues raised by activities such as surrogacy and organ trafficking. Stephen Wilkinson asks what is it that makes some commercial uses of the body controversial, whether the arguments against commercial exploitation stand up, and whether legislation outlawing such practices is really justified.

In Part One Wilkinson explains and analyses some of the notoriously slippery concepts used in the body commodification debate, including exploitation, harm and consent. In Part Two he focuses on three controversial issues (the buying and selling of human kidneys, commercial surrogacy, and DNA patenting) outlining contemporary regulation and investigating both the moral issues and the arguments for legal prohibition.

First Wilkinson (ethics and philosophy, Keele U.) reviews some of the ethical concepts used in the debate over the commodification of human bodies and body parts. Then he applies those concepts to contemporary practices of selling organs, selling babies, and patenting life. Distributed in the US by Taylor and Francis. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Stephen Wilkinson is Senior Lecturer in Ethics and Philosophy at Keele University. He has published widely on health care ethics and applied philosophy in journals including Bioethics, the Journal of Applied Philosophy, the Journal of Medical Ethics and Medical Law Review. In 1999 his article on mental illness won the Philosophical Quarterly International Essay Prize.