Children’s Bioethics

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The Astrolabe

An ancient instrument for solving problems of location and distance, as well as time

Astrolábon órganon is the word used in Ptolemaeus Syntaxis 5.1 to describe a form of armillary sphere consisting of both fixed and rotating rings for determining the ecliptic co-ordinates of stars. Also called astrolabe were two-dimensional representations of the celestial sphere: over fixed disks with a representation of the horizon of the earth (in each case for a specific geographic latitude) and its parallels up to the zenith lies a rotating representation of the heavens (called ‘spider’ or ‘net’) with zodiac and indicators for some of the brightest stars. On the back is an indicator (‘alidade’) with visor plates for calculating the height of the stars. The astrolabe allows its user to determine the hours of day and night, the positions of stars, and the height and depth of objects on earth (mountains, buildings, wells). The oldest extant descriptions of the flat, planispheric astrolabe come from Iohannes Philoponus, 6th century AD, and (in Syrian) from Severus Sebokht, c. 660 AD. Indirect references may date back as early as Theon (4th cent.). Between the 8th and the 9th centuries the Arabs appropriated the knowledge of the astrolabe. At the end of the 10th century and again in the 12th century, they passed it on to Western Europe, where astrolabes were constructed up until the 17th cent. Today, one Byzantine astrolabe (from 1062) is extant, as are some 750 Arabic-Islamic astrolabes and approximately the same number of European astrolabes.

This information is abstracted from Brill's New Pauly, the English edition of the authoritative Der Neue Pauly, Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. The encyclopaedic coverage and high academic standard of the work, the interdisciplinary and contemporary approach and clear and accessible presentation have made the New Pauly the unrivalled modern reference work for the ancient world. For more information see www.brillsnewpauly.com or visit our website catalog: www.brill.nl/bnp
Brill’s New Pauly and the complete original Der Neue Pauly, the recognized standard reference works for students and scholars of the ancient world are also available online. This dual-language edition offers basic and advanced search facilities and is fully browsable. New English translations are added as they become available. See www.paulyonline.brill.nl for more information and a demo version.

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Publications & Services> Books> Book Series> Children’s Bioethics

Children’s Bioethics

The International Biopolitical Discourse on Harmful Traditional Practices and the Right of the Child to Cultural Identity

Maya Sabatello

Books

Available
Publication year: 2009


ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 17341 5
ISBN-10:	90 04 17341 2

Cover:	Hardback
Number of pages:	xxiv, 288 pp.

List price:	€ 90.00 / US$ 133.00

Table of contents

Acknowledgment; List of Abbreviations; Table of Contents; Chapter 1: Introduction; OUTLINE OF THE BOOK; Chapter 2: Using International Human Rights Framework to Study Bioethics; INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGTHS AND BIOETHICS: AN INEXTRICABLE CONNECTION; MEDICAL CULTURES; CHILDREN, BIOETHICS AND MEDICAL CULTURES; CHILDREN’S BIOETHICS AND THE QUESTION OF AGENCY; BIOETHICS AND CULTURE: TERMS AND WORKING DEFINITIONS; Chapter 3: Children’s Bioethics in the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Historical Overview of the Drafting Process; DRAFTING THE CHILDREN’S CONVENTION; CATEGORIES OF BIOMEDICAL PRACTICES; WHO WON, WHO LOST?; CONCLUSION; Chapter 4: Traditional Bodily Practices: Case Studies; CASE SELECTION; TRADITIONAL BODILY PRACTICES: BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT; CONCLUSION; Chapter 5: Children’s Bioethics and the Framework of Analysis; THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF HUMAN RIGHTS; BODILY PRACTICES AND CULTURAL CONFLICTS; CONCLUSION; Chapter 6: Biomedical Practices and the Child: Rights in Question; ABUSE AND NEGLECT; TORTURE, CRUEL AND INHUMAN AND DEGRADING TREATMENT; FREEDOM FROM VIOLENCE; FREEDOM OF THOUGHT, CONSCIENCE AND RELIGION; INFORMED CONSENT; CONCLUSION; Chapter 7: Rights Discourse, Children and Bioethics; CULTURE, CULTURAL RIGHTS AND CULTURAL IDENTITY; CHILDREN AS BEARERS OF (BIOMEDICAL) CULTURAL RIGHTS; THE CHILD'S CULTURAL IDENTITY; CHILDREN’S BIOETHICS IN PRACTICE; CONCLUSION; Chapter 8: Broadening the Lens; GENETIC MANIPULATIONS; GENETIC SELECTION OF CHILDREN’S CHARACTERISTICS: A PART OF PARENTAL REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM?; SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS AND CHILDREN; THE CHILD’S ‘RIGHT TO A SOUND MIND AND BODY’?; CONCLUSION; Chapter 9: Conclusion; CONSIDERATIONS UNDER THE PHYSICAL PATH; CONSIDERATIONS UNDER THE IDENTITY PATH; RESOLUTION OF BIOMEDICAL CONFLICTS; CHILDREN’S BIOETHICS: A REEVALUATION; Bibliography; COURT CASES; INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTS; SOURCES

Readership

All those interested in children’s rights, bioethics, cultural studies, multiculturalism, disability, and international human rights law, as well as medical anthropologists, political scientists, philosophers, legal scholars and public policy makers.

About the author(s)

Maya Sabatello, L.L.B., Ph.D. (2006) in Political Science, University of Southern California, and currently teaches at the Center for Global Affairs, New York University. She has published on the topic of disabilities and bioethics, and participated in the UN drafting of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Only scant attention has been given to the issue of children’s bioethics. Even when such a discourse took place, it hardly touched upon children as social agents. In this novel work, Maya Sabatello looks at the “body politics” of religious and cultural medical practices - from “harmful traditional practices” to genetic engineering. Building on literature from medical anthropology, cultural studies, disability studies, social sciences, and law, she explores the international discourse on children’s bioethics from a previously uncharted child-centered approach. In light of the existing multiculturalism, she contends that in the discourse on children's bioethics, not only must the medical, social and, anthropological nexus of the child be taken into account, but that incorporating identity claims into the legal discourse is also essential for the child’s voice to be heard.

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