You Tube Theology

Who counts as human? What counts as humanity? Are there features of moral agency found in nonhuman animals? If so, how does that re-frame human moral agency? What duties do we owe to our fellow humans? What duties do we owe to those beings we consider nonhuman? Responses to questions such as these often have been predicated upon naturalistic conceptions of biology and an uncritical assumption that humans are exceptional. In their forthcoming books, Professors Jennifer Herdt (Gilbert L. Stark Professor of Christian Ethics and Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs, Yale Divinity School) and O. Carter Snead (Charles E. Rice Professor of Law and Concurrent Professor of Political Science, Notre Dame University) explore the intersections of humanity, nature, biology, and technology, challenging our notion of what it means to be human and constructing new paradigms for understanding ethical obligations at the boundaries of humanity. In this panel discussion, Professor Herdt and Professor Snead discuss their two books and are joined by Professors Sheila Jasanoff (Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Harvard University) and Willis Jenkins (John Allen Hollingsworth Professor of Ethics, University of Virginia) for commentary and conversation.