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Accepted Paper:

Nature, technology, and morality   
Dorijan Keržan (National forensic laboratory, Slovenia)

Paper short abstract:

This paper will show how new reproductive technologies reshape »the natural facts« of a conception, a birth and an understanding of a family.

Paper long abstract:

New reproductive technologies and biotechnology challenge many common facts about nature. Different forms of the assisted conception can change the understanding of a family, a parenthood, a personhood as well as a personal identity.

Based on the interviews with the physicians and other professionals at the fertility clinic, the peculiar understanding of "natural technologies" will be discussed. The idea of »natural technology« or technology that imitates nature was a powerful argument when a family and a parenthood were debated some years ago in Slovenia when the new legislation on assisted reproduction was adopted.

In this paper, I would like to show that nature and culture can no longer be defined in the separate discourses. The cultural and natural facts are increasingly becoming fluid and even a matter of negotiation. Therefore, it is perhaps necessary to abandon those concepts as the separate entities and observe them as a single concept seen from the different viewpoints.

Panel W036
Moralities of nature
  Session 1 Thursday 28 August, 2008, -