Raising the Virtuous Bar: The Underlying Issues of Genetic Moral Enhancement
From the perspective of virtue ethics, is it possible and permissible to enhance moral behavior through gene modification? In preparation to answer this question, we must ask five questions: (1) What may we assume regarding genetic inheritance and human nature? (2) Can specific genes predispose beha...
| Subtitles: | Moral enhancement and deification through technology? |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge
[2018]
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| In: |
Theology and science
Year: 2018, Volume: 16, Issue: 3, Pages: 279-287 |
| IxTheo Classification: | NBE Anthropology NCB Personal ethics NCJ Ethics of science |
| Further subjects: | B
moral enhancement
B Gene modification B ethical enhancement B Virtue B somatic versus germline B gene editing B therapy versus enhancement B Reinhold Niebuhr |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | From the perspective of virtue ethics, is it possible and permissible to enhance moral behavior through gene modification? In preparation to answer this question, we must ask five questions: (1) What may we assume regarding genetic inheritance and human nature? (2) Can specific genes predispose behavior related to the moral virtues? (3) What kind of genetic enhancement would be useful for moral enhancement? (4) Should there be a distinction between somatic and germline gene modification? (5) Is genetic modification best approach to moral enhancement? This article concedes that genetic engineering has the capacity to enhance the human disposition to moral behavior, but gene editing cannot create virtue because virtues are stable, habituated dispositions, acquired over time. That being said, gene editing for purposes of enhancing moral behavior is permissible. |
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| ISSN: | 1474-6719 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Theology and science
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/14746700.2018.1488474 |