What do you think?
Rate this book
Basic Bioethics
Humanity Enhanced: Genetic Choice and the Challenge for Liberal Democracies
An argument that modern liberal democracies should tolerate human enhancement technologies, answering key objections by critics of these practices.
Emerging biotechnologies that manipulate human genetic material have drawn a chorus of objections from politicians, pundits, and scholars. In Humanity Enhanced, Russell Blackford eschews the heated rhetoric that surrounds genetic enhancement technologies to examine them in the context of liberal thought, discussing the public policy issues they raise from legal and political perspectives. Some see the possibility of genetic choice as challenging the values of liberal democracy. Blackford argues that the challenge is not, as commonly supposed, the urgent need for a strict regulatory action. Rather, the challenge is that fear of these technologies has created an atmosphere in which liberal tolerance itself is threatened.
Focusing on reproductive cloning, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis of embryos, and genetic engineering, Blackford takes on objections to enhancement technologies (raised by Jürgen Habermas and others) based on such concerns as individual autonomy and distributive justice. He argues that some enhancements would be genuinely beneficial, and that it would be justified in some circumstances even to exert pressure on parents to undertake genetic modification of embryos. Blackford argues against draconian suppression of human enhancement, although he acknowledges that some specific and limited regulation may be required in the future. More generally, he argues, liberal democracies would demonstrate liberal values by tolerating and accepting the emerging technologies of genetic choice.
Emerging biotechnologies that manipulate human genetic material have drawn a chorus of objections from politicians, pundits, and scholars. In Humanity Enhanced, Russell Blackford eschews the heated rhetoric that surrounds genetic enhancement technologies to examine them in the context of liberal thought, discussing the public policy issues they raise from legal and political perspectives. Some see the possibility of genetic choice as challenging the values of liberal democracy. Blackford argues that the challenge is not, as commonly supposed, the urgent need for a strict regulatory action. Rather, the challenge is that fear of these technologies has created an atmosphere in which liberal tolerance itself is threatened.
Focusing on reproductive cloning, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis of embryos, and genetic engineering, Blackford takes on objections to enhancement technologies (raised by Jürgen Habermas and others) based on such concerns as individual autonomy and distributive justice. He argues that some enhancements would be genuinely beneficial, and that it would be justified in some circumstances even to exert pressure on parents to undertake genetic modification of embryos. Blackford argues against draconian suppression of human enhancement, although he acknowledges that some specific and limited regulation may be required in the future. More generally, he argues, liberal democracies would demonstrate liberal values by tolerating and accepting the emerging technologies of genetic choice.
- GenresPhilosophy
247 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 29, 2013
4 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
Russell Blackford
57Ìýbooks33ÌýfollowersRussell Blackford is an Australian writer, philosopher, and critic, based for many years in Melbourne, Victoria. He was born in Sydney, and grew up in Lake Macquarie district, near Newcastle, NSW. He moved to Melbourne in 1979, but returned to Newcastle to live and work in 2009.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 6, 2014
Wonderful book. I heartily recommend it. As always, Blackford gives cogent and reasonable replies to arguments against his position of liberal tolerance. Also an interesting critique of Rawls theory of justice.
August 8, 2015
A sensible review of an area prone to sensationalism
This book argues that less rather than more government regulation be applied to the field of genetic modification. It argues, for example, that the more likely limited benefits of eliminating particular genetic disorders hugely outweigh the speculative risks of creating dystopian societies of the sort imagined in, say, the film Gattaca. It is hard to disagree with Russell Blackford's conclusions after following his readable and measured presentation of the arguments both for and against the need for laws to limit research in this area. I imagine that other books presenting one sided sensationalised accounts of the field will prove better sellers given the polarising nature of the topic. However, for the person wishing not just to have their prejudices confirmed, but rather to be informed, this is the book to get.
This book argues that less rather than more government regulation be applied to the field of genetic modification. It argues, for example, that the more likely limited benefits of eliminating particular genetic disorders hugely outweigh the speculative risks of creating dystopian societies of the sort imagined in, say, the film Gattaca. It is hard to disagree with Russell Blackford's conclusions after following his readable and measured presentation of the arguments both for and against the need for laws to limit research in this area. I imagine that other books presenting one sided sensationalised accounts of the field will prove better sellers given the polarising nature of the topic. However, for the person wishing not just to have their prejudices confirmed, but rather to be informed, this is the book to get.
December 6, 2014
This turned out to be a philosophy book based on a dissertation, not a science book. It was amazing how dull the author managed to make the topic considering how interesting the philosophical debates over the ethics of cloning and genetic modifications should be
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.