Securing the Future of Genetic Enhancement: A Review Essay of 'Humanity Enhanced', by Russell Blackford
Population and Development Review 41(1) (March 2015): 151-68.
7 Pages Posted: 16 Apr 2016
Date Written: 2015
Abstract
Emerging human genetic technologies open possibilities of reproductive choices that some see as offering a promise of healthier children, others as presenting risks of social dysfunction and division. Blackford undertakes the challenge of securing the best of these genetic potentials and of preventing denial of their promise. He confronts conservative, restrictive or prohibitive, sometimes religiously guided philosophical and legal approaches to human "enhancement technologies", to place the burden of justifying such approaches on their proponents, and to show the widespread extent to which proponents fail to discharge that burden.
Keywords: genetics, biotechnology, eugenics, bioethics
JEL Classification: K10, J13, I18
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation