Germline Genetics, Human Nature, and Social Ethics
Germline Genetics, Human Nature, and Social Ethics
This chapter reports that germline modification is acceptable for therapy but not for enhancement, and raises questions about the difficult concept of human nature. It supports a concept of human nature which includes rationality, free will, and sociality, and invokes that concept to advocate restraints on genetic manipulation of the germline. The chapter shows that new germline techniques, especially enhancements, will, if safe, be distributed on a market basis to those whose resources match their desires. It also suggests that the ethical social response to genetic enhancement of the germline will need much more than theoretical analysis, whether theological or philosophical.
Keywords: germline modification, human nature, rationality, free will, sociality, ethical social response
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