What is special about the human body?

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Standard

What is special about the human body? / Fox, Marie.

In: Law, Innovation and Technology, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2015, p. 206-230.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Harvard

Fox, M 2015, 'What is special about the human body?', Law, Innovation and Technology, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 206-230. https://doi.org/10.1080/17579961.2015.1106106

APA

Fox, M. (2015). What is special about the human body? Law, Innovation and Technology, 7(2), 206-230. https://doi.org/10.1080/17579961.2015.1106106

Vancouver

Fox M. What is special about the human body? Law, Innovation and Technology. 2015;7(2):206-230. https://doi.org/10.1080/17579961.2015.1106106

Author

Fox, Marie. / What is special about the human body?. In: Law, Innovation and Technology. 2015 ; Vol. 7, No. 2. pp. 206-230.

Bibtex

@article{935840eefda64042a5ec36ac5f72d359,
title = "What is special about the human body?",
abstract = "UK health law has recently become more attentive to corporeality and embodiment, with implications for how legal subjectivity is understood. Yet, the body of health law remains a distinctively human body. Non-human bodies figure only at its margins, in its response to technologies such as xenotransplantation which expose the fault-lines surrounding human bodies. I aim to further trouble this boundary by exploring the liminal, queer and posthuman figure of the {\textquoteleft}trans-embryo{\textquoteright}. I argue that these extracorporeal embryos carry significant potential to disrupt our understandings of the human and of the legal subject. Eschewing personhood arguments, I aim to recast trans-embryos as embodied and relational products of human and animal reproductive labour. I conclude that, so viewed, they facilitate a new understanding of the corporeality and vulnerability we share with animals, thereby challenging human exceptionalism and the perceived distinctiveness of human bodies. Consequently, new forms of legal subjectivity which reflect an inter-species ethics are required.",
keywords = "Trans-embryos, human admixed embryos, human/non-human boundary, the human body, corporeality, vulnerability, legal subjectivity",
author = "Marie Fox",
year = "2015",
doi = "10.1080/17579961.2015.1106106",
language = "English",
volume = "7",
pages = "206--230",
journal = "Law, Innovation and Technology",
issn = "1757-9961",
publisher = "Taylor & Francis",
number = "2",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - What is special about the human body?

AU - Fox, Marie

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - UK health law has recently become more attentive to corporeality and embodiment, with implications for how legal subjectivity is understood. Yet, the body of health law remains a distinctively human body. Non-human bodies figure only at its margins, in its response to technologies such as xenotransplantation which expose the fault-lines surrounding human bodies. I aim to further trouble this boundary by exploring the liminal, queer and posthuman figure of the ‘trans-embryo’. I argue that these extracorporeal embryos carry significant potential to disrupt our understandings of the human and of the legal subject. Eschewing personhood arguments, I aim to recast trans-embryos as embodied and relational products of human and animal reproductive labour. I conclude that, so viewed, they facilitate a new understanding of the corporeality and vulnerability we share with animals, thereby challenging human exceptionalism and the perceived distinctiveness of human bodies. Consequently, new forms of legal subjectivity which reflect an inter-species ethics are required.

AB - UK health law has recently become more attentive to corporeality and embodiment, with implications for how legal subjectivity is understood. Yet, the body of health law remains a distinctively human body. Non-human bodies figure only at its margins, in its response to technologies such as xenotransplantation which expose the fault-lines surrounding human bodies. I aim to further trouble this boundary by exploring the liminal, queer and posthuman figure of the ‘trans-embryo’. I argue that these extracorporeal embryos carry significant potential to disrupt our understandings of the human and of the legal subject. Eschewing personhood arguments, I aim to recast trans-embryos as embodied and relational products of human and animal reproductive labour. I conclude that, so viewed, they facilitate a new understanding of the corporeality and vulnerability we share with animals, thereby challenging human exceptionalism and the perceived distinctiveness of human bodies. Consequently, new forms of legal subjectivity which reflect an inter-species ethics are required.

KW - Trans-embryos

KW - human admixed embryos

KW - human/non-human boundary

KW - the human body

KW - corporeality

KW - vulnerability

KW - legal subjectivity

U2 - 10.1080/17579961.2015.1106106

DO - 10.1080/17579961.2015.1106106

M3 - Article

VL - 7

SP - 206

EP - 230

JO - Law, Innovation and Technology

JF - Law, Innovation and Technology

SN - 1757-9961

IS - 2

ER -