Towards a Moderate Stance on Human Enhancement

In this essay, we argue against radical ethical views about human enhancement that either dismiss or endorse it tout court. Instead, we advocate the moderate stance that issues of enhancement should be examined with an open mind and on a case-by-case basis. To make this view plausible, we offer thre...

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Main Authors: Nikil Mukerji, Julian Nida-Rümelin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Associazione Culturale Humana.Mente 2014-05-01
Series:Humana.Mente: Journal of Philosophical Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.humanamente.eu/index.php/HM/article/view/113
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author Nikil Mukerji
Julian Nida-Rümelin
author_facet Nikil Mukerji
Julian Nida-Rümelin
author_sort Nikil Mukerji
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description In this essay, we argue against radical ethical views about human enhancement that either dismiss or endorse it tout court. Instead, we advocate the moderate stance that issues of enhancement should be examined with an open mind and on a case-by-case basis. To make this view plausible, we offer three reasons. The first lies in the fact that it is difficult to delineate enhancement conceptually, which makes it hard to argue for general ethical conclusions about it. The second is that an appropriate view of the edifice of moral theory suggests that tenable moral judgements about human enhancement are the result of a careful consideration of the pros and cons that attach to the use of a specific enhancement technology. Lastly, we show that important normative factors in the enhancement debate can be used both in arguments for and in arguments against enhancement. The bottom line of our discussion is that we should treat issues of human enhancement like we do any other ethical issue, viz. by weighing up the reasons pro and con.
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spelling doaj.art-1af19317fe5840adbca1877ba70a85402022-12-22T01:08:22ZengAssociazione Culturale Humana.MenteHumana.Mente: Journal of Philosophical Studies1972-12932014-05-01726Towards a Moderate Stance on Human EnhancementNikil Mukerji0Julian Nida-Rümelin1Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, GermanyLudwig-Maximilians-Universität München, GermanyIn this essay, we argue against radical ethical views about human enhancement that either dismiss or endorse it tout court. Instead, we advocate the moderate stance that issues of enhancement should be examined with an open mind and on a case-by-case basis. To make this view plausible, we offer three reasons. The first lies in the fact that it is difficult to delineate enhancement conceptually, which makes it hard to argue for general ethical conclusions about it. The second is that an appropriate view of the edifice of moral theory suggests that tenable moral judgements about human enhancement are the result of a careful consideration of the pros and cons that attach to the use of a specific enhancement technology. Lastly, we show that important normative factors in the enhancement debate can be used both in arguments for and in arguments against enhancement. The bottom line of our discussion is that we should treat issues of human enhancement like we do any other ethical issue, viz. by weighing up the reasons pro and con.http://www.humanamente.eu/index.php/HM/article/view/113human enhancementtechnologyethical issues
spellingShingle Nikil Mukerji
Julian Nida-Rümelin
Towards a Moderate Stance on Human Enhancement
Humana.Mente: Journal of Philosophical Studies
human enhancement
technology
ethical issues
title Towards a Moderate Stance on Human Enhancement
title_full Towards a Moderate Stance on Human Enhancement
title_fullStr Towards a Moderate Stance on Human Enhancement
title_full_unstemmed Towards a Moderate Stance on Human Enhancement
title_short Towards a Moderate Stance on Human Enhancement
title_sort towards a moderate stance on human enhancement
topic human enhancement
technology
ethical issues
url http://www.humanamente.eu/index.php/HM/article/view/113
work_keys_str_mv AT nikilmukerji towardsamoderatestanceonhumanenhancement
AT juliannidarumelin towardsamoderatestanceonhumanenhancement