A Life-Centered Approach to Bioethics

'By conceptualizing life as a process rather than a substance, and by identifying selves as life-processes, Johnson provides us with an innovative approach to the perennial question of how we ought to live our lives. Our good is our health, and our health is an activity whose trajectory changes over the course of our lives. The effects of this sensible thesis ramify throughout a host of urgent contemporary moral issues. I strongly recommend Johnson's accessible work.' Mark H. Bernstein, Joyce and Edward E. Brewer Chair in Applied Ethics, Purdue University
'Lawrence Johnson's A Life-Centered Approach to Bioethics is a timely and engaging work, addressing challenging contemporary issues in bioethics, ranging from genetic manipulation to euthanasia and abortion. Johnson succeeds in providing a compelling text for students in bioethics courses, while also presenting provocative positions that will be of interest to professional philosophers and bioethicists. His distinctive biocentric approach to human well-being is a natural extension of his highly regarded work in environmental ethics, and should garner a wide audience.' Jason Kavall, Colgate University
'This is biocentric bioethics. The novelty in Johnson's approach is his provocative insight that those who affirm all life come to different perspectives and conclusions about human life than do those who start assuming that only human or sentient life is of moral concern. That deepens bioethics and results, surprisingly, in a more humane caring for persons. Read it to enrich both your life and your bioethics.' Holmes Rolston, III, Colorado State University