In the midst of heated debates over issues such as genetic testing, abortion or compulsory vaccinations, Joanna Żylińska offers a different perspective on the essence of bioethics. She argues that in the age of digital technology and new media, the main task bioethics must face is not so much to resolve specific disputes in the fields of medicine and health as to redefine the very concept of life. In her analyses, encompassing both the classical concepts of bioethics and 'bioethics in action', the author highlights the dynamic relationship between life and the human, particularly the co-existence and interdependence of the human and the non-human. Such an approach to the problem requires an interdisciplinary approach, which the author constructs using the assumptions and methods of media studies and cultural studies. She draws on the theories of such thinkers as Giorgio Agamben, Michel Foucault, Donna Haraway and Katherine Hayles. A particular source of inspiration, however, is the philosophy of otherness developed by Jacques Derrida, Emmanuel Levinas and Bernard Stiegler. Drawing on their reflections, Żylińska postulates an 'ethics of life', a non-systemic, non-hierarchical bioethics that takes into account the relatedness of humans, animals and machines. Bioethics in the Age of New Media is a book that, by interweaving philosophical reflection with sensitivity to current phenomena in art, science and popular culture, stimulates a rethinking of life as both a philosophical and a biological-technological problem.
