Evolutionary ethics and Haeckelian monism: the case of Heinrich Schmidt's Harmonie (1931).

This paper offers the first ever published discussion of the ethical treatise Harmonie: Versuch einer monistischen Ethik [Harmony: an attempt at a monistic ethics] by Heinrich Schmidt (1874-1935), one of the leading figures in the circle of Ernst Haeckel. Published near the end of Schmidt's life (1931), it constituted a kind of summation of decades of intense involvement in the "project" of German monism that found its epicentre in Jena, and in Haeckel's attempts at founding it on Darwinian and Goethian lines. After a brief description of Schmidt's life and works, we summarize the main lines of Haeckel's evolutionary thought and their expression in his sparse ethical writings. A detailed description of Harmonie follows, in which we seek to demonstrate Schmidt's close adherence to Haeckel's monist foundations, as well as indicate where he expanded his own thinking in directions beyond Haeckel's. Lastly, we suggest that Harmonie, perhaps contrary to Schmidt's wishes after 1933, nevertheless offers textual evidence of the deep incompatibility of Schmidt's understanding of ethics to the sociopolitical ideology of National Socialism. This is consistent with the historical record of how Haeckel's monism, together with those like Schmidt who worked tirelessly to promote it, was negatively regarded by the NSDAP.

El papel de las ciencias empíricas en el derecho: el estatus del embrión humano / The role of empirical sciences in the law: the status of the human embryo / El paper de les ciències empíriques en el dret: l'estatus de l'embrió humà

Se analizan dos sentencias Ajudiciales antagónicas en relación con el estatus jurídico del embrión humano: el fallo "Portal de Belén", de la Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Argentina, y "Artavia Murillo", de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. Mi propósito es mostrar que, a pesar de sostener posiciones contrarias, ambas sentencias cometen el mismo tipo de error conceptual: justificar su tesis acerca del estatus del embrión humano en consideraciones biológicas acerca del desarrollo embrionario. Detectar este tipo de falencia argumentativa puede ser útil para el análisis de muchas decisiones judiciales sobre temas bioéticos

In this paper, I consider two opposite judicial decisions concerning the legal status of the human embryo: "Portal de Belén" by the Argentine Supreme Court, and "Artavia Murillo" by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. My purpose is to show that, although both decisions defend opposite positions, they commit the same kind of mistake. Both seek to ground a position about the legal status of the human embryo on biological considerations on embryo development. Highlighting this kind of argumentative failure can be useful for the analysis of judicial decisions with bioethical import

S'analitzen dues sentències judicials antagòniques en relació amb l'estatus jurídic de l'embrió humà: la sentència "Portal de Belém", de la Cort Suprema de Justícia de l'Argentina, i la sentència "Artavia Murillo", de la Cort Interamericana de Drets Humans. El meu propòsit és mostrar que, malgrat sostenir posicions contràries, ambdues sentències cometen el mateix tipus d'error conceptual: basar la seva tesi sobre l'estatus de l'embrió humà en consideracions biològiques sobre el desenvolupament embrionari. Detectar aquest tipus de fal·làcia argumentativa pot ser útil per a l'anàlisi de moltes decisions judicials sobre temes bioètics

In vitro fertilization (IVF) in mammals: epigenetic and developmental alterations. Scientific and bioethical implications for IVF in humans.

The advent of in vitro fertilization (IVF) in animals and humans implies an extraordinary change in the environment where the beginning of a new organism takes place. In mammals fertilization occurs in the maternal oviduct, where there are unique conditions for guaranteeing the encounter of the gametes and the first stages of development of the embryo and thus its future. During this period a major epigenetic reprogramming takes place that is crucial for the normal fate of the embryo. This epigenetic reprogramming is very vulnerable to changes in environmental conditions such as the ones implied in IVF, including in vitro culture, nutrition, light, temperature, oxygen tension, embryo-maternal signaling, and the general absence of protection against foreign elements that could affect the stability of this process. The objective of this review is to update the impact of the various conditions inherent in the use of IVF on the epigenetic profile and outcomes of mammalian embryos, including superovulation, IVF technique, embryo culture and manipulation and absence of embryo-maternal signaling. It also covers the possible transgenerational inheritance of the epigenetic alterations associated with assisted reproductive technologies (ART), including its phenotypic consequences as is in the case of the large offspring syndrome (LOS). Finally, the important scientific and bioethical implications of the results found in animals are discussed in terms of the ART in humans.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) in mammals: epigenetic and developmental alterations: scientific and bioethical implications for IVF in humans

The advent of in vitro fertilization (IVF) in animals and humans implies an extraordinary change in the environment where the beginning of a new organism takes place. In mammals fertilization occurs in the maternal oviduct, where there are unique conditions for guaranteeing the encounter of the gametes and the first stages of development of the embryo and thus its future. During this period a major epigenetic reprogramming takes place that is crucial for the normal fate of the embryo. This epigenetic reprogramming is very vulnerable to changes in environmental conditions such as the ones implied in IVF, including in vitro culture, nutrition, light, temperature, oxygen tension, embryo-maternal signaling, and the general absence of protection against foreign elements that could affect the stability of this process. The objective of this review is to update the impact of the various conditions inherent in the use of IVF on the epigenetic profile and outcomes of mammalian embryos, including superovulation, IVF technique, embryo culture and manipulation and absence of embryo-maternal signaling. It also covers the possible transgenerational inheritance of the epigenetic alterations associated with assisted reproductive technologies (ART), including its phenotypic consequences as is in the case of the large offspring syndrome (LOS). Finally, the important scientific and bioethical implications of the results found in animals are discussed in terms of the ART in humans.

El embrión ficticio: historia de un mito biológico. El autor explica su libro / The fictitious embryo: A critical history of a biological myth. The authro explains his book

En el fondo, el libro comentado es fruto de la reacción del autor ante la ausencia de ciencia biológica seria que domina desde hace años la bioética del embrión humano. La embriología usada por los bioéticos, tanto en sus estudios teóricos como en sus intervenciones en los comités que han elaborado la normativa legal, ha sido en esencia una embriología secundaria, divulgativa, que sirvió para sustentar la teoría del preembrión. Los biólogos proporcionaron a filósofos y juristas una serie de "argumentos" aparentemente científicos y tan convincentes que nadie sintió la necesidad de revisarlos críticamente. Son los argumentos de la irrelevancia de la fecundación; del predominio numérico de las células de destino extraembrionario sobre las propiamente embrionarias; de la formación de gemelos monocigóticos a lo largo de las dos primeras semanas del desarrollo; de la formación de quimeras tetragaméticas mediante fusión de dos embrionesdizigóticos en los primeros catorce días; de la totipotencialidad de las células del embrión joven; y, finalmente, de la masiva pérdida espontánea de embriones. Se ha pretendido consolidar la tesis de que las entidades biológicas que expresan esos comportamientos son biológicamente tan precarias que no pueden reclamar un estatus ontológico de plena humanidad, no pueden exigir de nosotros el respeto que se debe a los seres propiamente humanos. A lo largo del libro trato de refutar -me parece que razonable y convincentemente, y lo que me parece más importante, con datos biológicos- los argumentos arriba citados. El autor advierte lealmente que el libro no puede leerse sin esfuerzo, pero considera que liberarse de los prejuicios reinantes en la embrioética es un objetivo que merece la pena

Basically, the commented upon book is the result of the writer’s reaction to the absence of serious biological science that for years is reigning in the bioethics of the human embryo. The embryology used by bioethicists, both in their theoretical studies and in their interventions before public policy drafting committees, has consisted essentially not in primary research materials, but in text-book descriptions, with which resulted easier to support the theory of the pre-embryo. In this way, biologists were able to provide philosophers and jurists with a number of apparently scientific "arguments" so convincing that no one felt the need to review them critically. The lack or inferior condition of the biological status of the human supported by the arguments on the irrelevance of fertilization; on the numerical predominance of the extraembryonic cell population over the proper embryonic one; on the formation of monozygotic twins along the first two weeks of development; on the formation of tetragametic chimeras by fusion in one of two previously independent dizygotic embryos; on the totipotency of the cells of the young embryo; and, finally, on the massive spontaneous wastage of early embryos. Those arguments sought to consolidate the thesis that the biological entities exhibiting those behaviours were so precarious biologically that they couldn’t claim a full ontological status of humanhood and, therefore, they cannot demand from us the ethical full respect due to human beings. Throughout the book I try to refute -in a reasonable and convincing way, and, more importantly in my view, with biological data- the above arguments. The author warns that the book can not be read without effort, but he considers that to get rid of the prevailing prejudices in embryoethics is a worthwhile goal

Lawrence D. Longo: from chronic fetal hypoxia to proteomic predictors of fetal distress syndrome - a life devoted to research and mentoring based on virtue-ethics.

The present chapter presents the experience of the author during his fellowship granted by the Fogarty Foundation of the NIH in the Division of Perinatal Biology, Loma Linda University, from 1989 to 1991. Experiments on maternal and fetal responses to long-term hypoxemia (including high-altitude) were performed successfully in pregnant sheep and their fetuses.Cardiovascular, hormonal and blood flow distribution responses were studied under a strict experimental protocol. As result of this research, four papers were accepted for publication in major scientific journals, and have served as basis for further research.Most of all, the leadership, virtue-based ethics, perseverance and continuous stimulus of Lawrence D. Longo is presented as an example to follow for future generations.

Educating for social responsibility: changing the syllabus of developmental biology.

Developmental biology is deeply embedded in the social issues of our times. Such topics as cloning, stems cells, reproductive technologies, sex selection, environmental hormone mimics and gene therapy all converge on developmental biology. It is therefore critical that developmental biologists learn about the possible social consequences of their work and of the possible molding of their discipline by social forces. We present two models for integrating social issues into the developmental biology curriculum. One model seeks to place discussions of social issues into the laboratory portion of the curriculum; the other model seeks to restructure the course, such that developmental biology and its social contexts are synthesized directly.