The Matrix of Stem Cell Research An Approach to Rethinking Science in Society

"A scholarly, and profoundly interdisciplinary, approach to stem cell research that stands the conventional model of scientific development on its head. Far from offering only a secondary and peripheral commentary on more technical matters, questions of ethics, epistemology and socio-technical process are given proper significance. Cells and clinical practices, philosophy and social science flow together in this fascinating and very timely collection. As the editors convincingly argue, the social sciences and humanities do not simply study stem cell research. They also help configure it."

Alan Irwin, Professor in the Department of Organization, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

"Reducing stem cell research to issues of the moral status of embryos is not grasping its dimensions. This excellent interdisciplinary book highlights the central roles epistemic, social, ethical and political factors play in its formation and recent developments. An essential work for all who want to understand this life science in its societal complexity."

Ilhan Ilkilic, Professor of Health Sciences, Istanbul University, and Member of the German Ethics Council

"I think it is a most interesting book, providing new, innovative and very important perspective at stem cell research/science. It provides a panoramic account of the forces at play in its constitution: disciplines, techniques, specialties, commercial interests, medical concerns, ethical and political factors and more. It does so stressing complementarities and diversity in the dynamics of this wide variety of factors, without privileging one set of factors over another. A non-reductionist, comprehensive understanding of the development of contemporary science, and medical science in particular requires such a broad grasp."