{"id":1864,"date":"2019-03-13T10:00:24","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T09:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=1864"},"modified":"2019-06-27T14:57:22","modified_gmt":"2019-06-27T13:57:22","slug":"lessons-from-frankenstein-narrative-myth-as-ethical-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/03\/13\/lessons-from-frankenstein-narrative-myth-as-ethical-model\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from Frankenstein: Narrative Myth as Ethical Model"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>by Yvette Koepke<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the past year, scientific breakthroughs have shown both how relevant the questions raised by Mary Shelley\u2019s <em>Frankenstein<\/em> remain, and how commonly the novel gets used as a reference point in ethical debate. A YouTube comment on a news clip reporting the first successful cloning of monkeys in a Chinese lab insisted, \u201cCuriosity and a quest for personal glory are NOT sufficient reasons to allow scientists to play Frankenstein.\u201d Another Chinese scientist\u2019s claim to have created the first gene-edited babies was denounced as \u201cmonstrous\u201d by an ethicist. Who should decide what scientific research is \u201callowed,\u201d based on what \u201creasons\u201d? While the term \u201cFrankenstein\u201d gets used precisely because it seems to offer a clear instance of something \u201cmonstrous,\u201d the novel itself challenges that reading as well as commonplace models of ethical decision-making in medical science. As our society is increasingly called upon to make such decisions, the insights offered by <em>Frankenstein <\/em>become ever more vital.<\/p>\n<p>Read the full article on the <em>Medical Humanities<\/em> Journal <a href=\"https:\/\/mh.bmj.com\/content\/45\/1\/27\">website<\/a>.<!--TrendMD v2.4.8--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Yvette Koepke In the past year, scientific breakthroughs have shown both how relevant the questions raised by Mary Shelley\u2019s Frankenstein remain, and how commonly the novel gets used as a reference point in ethical debate. A YouTube comment on a news clip reporting the first successful cloning of monkeys in a Chinese lab insisted, [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/03\/13\/lessons-from-frankenstein-narrative-myth-as-ethical-model\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":345,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15028,15047],"tags":[15052,15059,15039,15044],"class_list":["post-1864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal-announcements","category-special-issues","tag-health-humanities","tag-medhums","tag-medical-humanities","tag-research"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lessons from Frankenstein: Narrative Myth as Ethical Model - Medical Humanities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/03\/13\/lessons-from-frankenstein-narrative-myth-as-ethical-model\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lessons from Frankenstein: Narrative Myth as Ethical Model - Medical Humanities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Yvette Koepke In the past year, scientific breakthroughs have shown both how relevant the questions raised by Mary Shelley\u2019s Frankenstein remain, and how commonly the novel gets used as a reference point in ethical debate. A YouTube comment on a news clip reporting the first successful cloning of monkeys in a Chinese lab insisted, [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/03\/13\/lessons-from-frankenstein-narrative-myth-as-ethical-model\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medical Humanities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-13T09:00:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-06-27T13:57:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Pak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Pak\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/13\\\/lessons-from-frankenstein-narrative-myth-as-ethical-model\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/13\\\/lessons-from-frankenstein-narrative-myth-as-ethical-model\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Pak\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0e11c1a9a0f1f9f2aa898a719652c44c\"},\"headline\":\"Lessons from Frankenstein: Narrative Myth as Ethical Model\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-13T09:00:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-27T13:57:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/13\\\/lessons-from-frankenstein-narrative-myth-as-ethical-model\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":177,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Health Humanities\",\"medhums\",\"medical humanities\",\"research\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Journal Announcements\",\"Special Issues\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/13\\\/lessons-from-frankenstein-narrative-myth-as-ethical-model\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/13\\\/lessons-from-frankenstein-narrative-myth-as-ethical-model\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/13\\\/lessons-from-frankenstein-narrative-myth-as-ethical-model\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lessons from Frankenstein: Narrative Myth as Ethical Model - 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