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SUMMARY:Generatio: medieval debates about procreation\, heredity and 'bioe
 thics' - Maaike van der Lugt (Université Paris Diderot – Paris 7 / Inst
 itut Universitaire de France)
DTSTART:20130117T163000Z
DTEND:20130117T180000Z
UID:TALK42162@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Peter Murray Jones
DESCRIPTION:In medieval debates\, the idea that the mixture of substances 
 provided by parents determines the appearance and sex of the child coexist
 ed\, without contradiction\, with the conviction that environmental and be
 havioural factors also play an important part. Even though the scholastics
  invented the concept of hereditary disease\, distinctions now common betw
 een heredity and development\, between the acquired and the inherited\, ha
 d only limited relevance. _Generatio_\, not heredity\, was the central con
 cept. _Generatio_ wasn't just the stuff of scholastic speculation. As is t
 he case today\, debates about the mechanism of conception\, the nature of 
 the substances involved\, and the development of the seed into a viable hu
 man being had larger moral\, legal and practical significance. Several of 
 these issues will be addressed in the lecture: whether abortion must be eq
 uated with murder\, the treatment reserved for 'monstrous' births\, and th
 e extent to which there was room\, within the medieval concept of _generat
 io_\, for eugenics.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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