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Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering
Belknap Press
May 2007
On Sale: May 15, 2007
176 pages
ISBN: 067401927X
EAN: 9780674019270
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Breakthroughs in genetics present us with a promise and a
predicament. The promise is that we will soon be able to
treat and prevent a host of debilitating diseases. The
predicament is that our newfound genetic knowledge may
enable us to manipulate our nature--to enhance our genetic
traits and those of our children. Although most people find
at least some forms of genetic engineering disquieting, it
is not easy to articulate why. What is wrong with
re-engineering our nature? The Case against Perfection explores these and other moral
quandaries connected with the quest to perfect ourselves and
our children. Michael Sandel argues that the pursuit of
perfection is flawed for reasons that go beyond safety and
fairness. The drive to enhance human nature through genetic
technologies is objectionable because it represents a bid
for mastery and dominion that fails to appreciate the gifted
character of human powers and achievements. Carrying us
beyond familiar terms of political discourse, this book
contends that the genetic revolution will change the way
philosophers discuss ethics and will force spiritual
questions back onto the political agenda. In order to grapple with the ethics of enhancement, we need
to confront questions largely lost from view in the modern
world. Since these questions verge on theology, modern
philosophers and political theorists tend to shrink from
them. But our new powers of biotechnology make these
questions unavoidable. Addressing them is the task of this
book, by one of America's preeminent moral and political
thinkers.
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