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Science 2 February 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5505, pp. 831 - 832
DOI: 10.1126/science.1058768
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Essays on Science and Society

Also see the archival list of the Essays on Science and Society.

ESSAYS ON SCIENCE AND SOCIETY:
Is the Genome the Secular Equivalent of the Soul?

Alex Mauron

The availability of the complete sequence of the human genome is forcing us to think about what it is that makes us human. In this Science and Society Essay, Alex Mauron examines the traditional notions of the "soul" expounded by Aristotle and medieval scholastics such as Thomas Aquinas and asks if the genome fits these definitions.

The author is at the Bioethics Research and Teaching Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Centre Médical Universitaire, Rue Michel-Servet 1, CH-1211 Genève 4, Switzerland.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Brainhood, Anthropological Figure of Modernity..
F. Vidal (2009)
History of the Human Sciences 22, 5-36
   Abstract »    PDF »
Minerva.
(2003)
BMJ 327, E29-29
   Full Text »    PDF »
Safeguarding Being: a bioethical principle for genetic nursing care.
E. Giarelli (2003)
Nursing Ethics 10, 255-268
   Abstract »    PDF »

E-Letters:

Read all E-Letters

The Human Genome and the Human Soul
John W. Commissiong
Science Online, 14 Feb 2001 [Full text]
Genes and Personality
Hermogenes Rojas
Science Online, 14 Feb 2001 [Full text]
Life Is Cognition
Adolf Heschl
Science Online, 15 Feb 2001 [Full text]

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)