Enhancement and civic virtue
Opponents of biomedical enhancement frequently adopt what Allen Buchanan has called the Personal Goods Assumption. On this assumption, the benefits of biomedical enhancement will accrue primarily to those individuals who undergo enhancements, not to wider society. Buchanan has argued that biomedical...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Philosophy Documentation Center
2014
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| Subjects: |
| _version_ | 1797085600881311744 |
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| author | Jefferson, W Douglas, T Kahane, G Savulescu, J |
| author_facet | Jefferson, W Douglas, T Kahane, G Savulescu, J |
| author_sort | Jefferson, W |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Opponents of biomedical enhancement frequently adopt what Allen Buchanan has called the Personal Goods Assumption. On this assumption, the benefits of biomedical enhancement will accrue primarily to those individuals who undergo enhancements, not to wider society. Buchanan has argued that biomedical enhancements might in fact have substantial social benefits by increasing productivity. We outline another way in which enhancements might benefit wider society: by augmenting civic virtue and thus improving the functioning of our political communities. We thus directly confront critics of biomedical enhancement who argue that it will lead to a loss of social cohesion and a breakdown in political life. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T02:10:50Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:a095e122-1604-45ea-a7e8-7958273d998d |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T02:10:50Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Philosophy Documentation Center |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:a095e122-1604-45ea-a7e8-7958273d998d2022-03-27T02:06:42ZEnhancement and civic virtueJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:a095e122-1604-45ea-a7e8-7958273d998dEthics (Moral philosophy)Practical ethicsEthics of the biosciencesPhilosophyEnglishOxford University Research Archive - ValetPhilosophy Documentation Center2014Jefferson, WDouglas, TKahane, GSavulescu, JOpponents of biomedical enhancement frequently adopt what Allen Buchanan has called the Personal Goods Assumption. On this assumption, the benefits of biomedical enhancement will accrue primarily to those individuals who undergo enhancements, not to wider society. Buchanan has argued that biomedical enhancements might in fact have substantial social benefits by increasing productivity. We outline another way in which enhancements might benefit wider society: by augmenting civic virtue and thus improving the functioning of our political communities. We thus directly confront critics of biomedical enhancement who argue that it will lead to a loss of social cohesion and a breakdown in political life. |
| spellingShingle | Ethics (Moral philosophy) Practical ethics Ethics of the biosciences Philosophy Jefferson, W Douglas, T Kahane, G Savulescu, J Enhancement and civic virtue |
| title | Enhancement and civic virtue |
| title_full | Enhancement and civic virtue |
| title_fullStr | Enhancement and civic virtue |
| title_full_unstemmed | Enhancement and civic virtue |
| title_short | Enhancement and civic virtue |
| title_sort | enhancement and civic virtue |
| topic | Ethics (Moral philosophy) Practical ethics Ethics of the biosciences Philosophy |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jeffersonw enhancementandcivicvirtue AT douglast enhancementandcivicvirtue AT kahaneg enhancementandcivicvirtue AT savulescuj enhancementandcivicvirtue |