| Defending human enhancement technologies: unveiling normativity. | |
| | |
MedLine Citation:
|
PMID: 20663766 Owner: NLM Status: In-Process |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
|
Recent advances in biotechnologies have led to speculations about enhancing human beings. Many of the moral arguments presented to defend human enhancement technologies have been limited to discussions of their risks and benefits. The author argues that in so far as ethical arguments focus primarily on risks and benefits of human enhancement technologies, these arguments will be insufficient to provide a robust defence of these technologies. This is so because the belief that an assessment of risks and benefits is a sufficient ethical evaluation of these technologies incorrectly presupposes that risk assessments do not involve value judgements. Second, it presupposes a reductionist conception of ethics as merely a risk management instrument. Each of these assumptions separates ethical evaluation from discussion and appraisal of ends and means and thus leaves important--indeed, essential--ethical considerations out of view. Once these problematic assumptions are rejected, it becomes clear that an adequate defence of human enhancement technologies requires more than a simple balance of their risks and benefits. |
| | |
Authors:
|
Inmaculada de Melo-Martín |
Related Documents
:
|
20546656 - Weird societies may be more compatible with human nature. 21828226 - Opt-out organ donation without presumptions. 20683926 - Practical guidelines addressing ethical issues pertaining to the curation of human locu... 20824356 - Ethical tissue: a not-for-profit model for human tissue supply. 22082856 - A consensus conference on management of the lower third molar. 12312876 - Polygyny: an indicator of nutritional stress in african agricultural societies? |
Publication Detail:
|
Type: Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. |
Journal Detail:
|
Title: Journal of medical ethics Volume: 36 ISSN: 1473-4257 ISO Abbreviation: J Med Ethics Publication Date: 2010 Aug |
Date Detail:
|
Created Date: 2010-07-28 Completed Date: - Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
|
Nlm Unique ID: 7513619 Medline TA: J Med Ethics Country: England |
Other Details:
|
Languages: eng Pagination: 483-7 Citation Subset: E; IM |
Affiliation:
|
Division of Medical Ethics, Department of Public Health, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA. imd2001@med.cornell.edu |
Export Citation:
|
APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex |
| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
|
|
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
Previous Document: Maps of beauty and disease: thoughts on genetics, confidentiality, and biological family.
Next Document: One step forward, two steps back? The GMC, the common law and 'informed' consent.