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...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Maßmann, Alexander 1977- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage [2019]
In: Studies in Christian ethics
Year: 2019, Volume: 32, Issue: 1, Pages: 88-104
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
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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.
ISSN:0953-9468
Contains:Enthalten in: Studies in Christian ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0953946818775558