Cutting to the Core

David Benatar is an associate professor and head of the philosophy department at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

When the benefits of surgery do not outweigh the harms or where they do not clearly do so, surgical interventions become morally contested. Cutting to the Core examines a number of such surgeries, including infant male circumcision and cutting the genitals of female children, the separation of conjoined twins, surgical sex assignment of intersex children and the surgical re-assignment of transsexuals, limb and face transplantation, cosmetic surgery, and placebo surgery.

Part 1 Preface Part 2 Introduction: The Ethics of Contested Surguries Part 3 Part I: Male Circumcision and Female Genital Cutting Chapter 4 1. Between Prophylaxis and Child Abuse: The Ethics of Neonatal Male Circumcision Chapter 5 2. The Ethics of Neonatal Male Circumcision: Helping Parents to Decide Chapter 6 3. Genital Alteration of Female Minors Part 7 Part II: Sex Assignment and Reassignment Surgery Chapter 8 4. The Ethics of Surgically Assigning Sex for Intersex Infants Chapter 9 5. Transsexualism and Gender Reassignment Surgery Part 10 Part III: Separating Conjoined Twins Chapter 11 6. Separating Conjoined Twins: Disability, Ontology and Moral Status Chapter 12 7. Conjunction and Separation: Viable Relationships, Equitable Partings Part 13 Part IV: Limb and Face Transplantation Chapter 14 8. Ethical Issues in Limb Transplants Chapter 15 9. Changing faces: Ethics, identity and facial transplantation Part 16 Part V: Cosmetic Surgery Chapter 17 10. A Defence of Cosmetic Surgery Chapter 18 11. Beauty under the Knife: A Feminist Appraisal of Cosmetic Surgery Part 19 Part VI: Placebo Surgery Chapter 20 12. The Emperor's New Scar: The Ethics of Placebo Surgery Chapter 21 13. Sham Surgery and Reasonable Risks Part 22 Suggestions for Further Reading Part 23 Index Part 24 About the Editor and Contributors