Genetic Enhancements and Relational Autonomy: Christian Ethics and the Child's Autonomy in Vulnerability
Technical advances in genome editing methods raise the question how autonomy should figure in theological ethical debates about genetic enhancements. Thinking primarily of the parents' reproductive autonomy, several secular and theological thinkers argue parents should be allowed to 'enhan...
| Published in: | Studies in Christian ethics |
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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: |
Sage
[2019]
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| In: |
Studies in Christian ethics
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| IxTheo Classification: | NBE Anthropology NCB Personal ethics NCJ Ethics of science TK Recent history VA Philosophy |
| Further subjects: | B
enhancements
B Habermas B Genome editing B Relationality B Vulnerability B Autonomy |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Summary: | Technical advances in genome editing methods raise the question how autonomy should figure in theological ethical debates about genetic enhancements. Thinking primarily of the parents' reproductive autonomy, several secular and theological thinkers argue parents should be allowed to 'enhance' an embryo genetically. Jürgen Habermas's critique of enhancements in the name of the child's autonomy, meanwhile, has been met with a critique of autonomy in theology. This article argues that theological views about God's relationship to the creature provide strong theological grounds for a new appropriation of autonomy. A liberal maximisation of individual choice is to be viewed critically, but more recent discourses on relational autonomy see certain forms of vulnerability contribute to a communal understanding of autonomy. This view dovetails with Habermas's argument, according to which enhancements create too strong a temptation towards overly directive parenting-less in modifying an embryo than in the ensuing relationship to the child. |
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| ISSN: | 0953-9468 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Studies in Christian ethics
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0953946818775558 |