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The Multiplicity of Norms: The Bioethics and Law of Stem Cell Patents

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The Global Dynamics of Regenerative Medicine

Part of the book series: Health, Technology and Society ((HTE))

Abstract

Law and ethics present a distinct pathway in the social science analysis of regenerative medicine. They are both normative systems which establish the boundaries of human activities and social interactions following socially recognised value-based considerations. They pursue different social objectives (Adorno, 2009, p. 224), and demonstrate different characteristics. Ethics is more discursive, flexible when determining boundaries in rapidly developing fields, such as biomedicine, and capable of recognising a plurality of non-exclusive viewpoints and value judgements. Law adheres to demands such as certainty, accessibility, clarity, and consistency, follows a mainly binary logic distinguishing between legal and illegal in regulating human activity, and it offers binding normative arrangements enforceable in an attached institutional framework. Its characteristics make law an attractive normative system for the entrenchment and compartmentalisation of boundaries negotiated in ethics.

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Authors
  1. Judit Sándor
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  2. Marton Varju
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of York, UK

    Andrew Webster

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© 2013 Judit Sándor and Marton Varju

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Sándor, J., Varju, M. (2013). The Multiplicity of Norms: The Bioethics and Law of Stem Cell Patents. In: Webster, A. (eds) The Global Dynamics of Regenerative Medicine. Health, Technology and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137026552_7

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