21: Disability, Embodiment, and What It Means to Be Human

Susannah and Peter talk with O. Carter Snead about his book What it Means to be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics. They examine the question of the anthropology of expressive individualism as the framework for our current legal bioethical regime, and look at hot-button cultural issues including abortion, assisted reproduction, assisted suicide, and end-of-life care. How should we die? How can we value and care for those who no longer have the same abilities they had when they were younger, but who are still vital members of the human family? How should we make babies? How can we guard the mystery and gift of children from a false sense of our own mastery over their creation? How should we live? How can we become the people we are meant to be by exercising care towards those who need our help, and by receiving care from those who love us?