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Imagining human enhancement: whose future, which rationality?

Floris Tomasini¹

¹ESRC Centre: Centre for the Economic and Social Aspects for Genomics, Institute for Advanced Studies, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YD, UK. f.tomasini@lancaster.ac.uk

Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics

|March 7, 2008

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Human enhancement and eugenics rely on assumptions about future lives, potentially creating a moral problem of difference. Liberal eugenics, while promoting choice, still reflects underlying desires for unmet future expectations.

Area of Science:

Bioethics
Philosophy of Technology
Social Sciences

Background:

Critically evaluates human betterment, focusing on human eugenics and enhancement through the lens of 'the imaginary'.
Investigates underlying assumptions and claims for human enhancement, including factual and normative aspects.
Examines how future-oriented claims about desirable lives shape normative judgments.

Observation:

Introduces 'moral images of thought' and their role in making judgments about non-existent lives.
Highlights the 'moral problem of difference,' where defining a 'better' life creates notions of inferiority or deviance.
Analyzes historical eugenics and contemporary liberal eugenics, noting the shift towards personal choice.

Findings:

Liberal eugenics, through personal choice, appears to mitigate the problem of difference but doesn't eliminate the core eugenic drive.

Related Experiment Videos

The desire for unmet future expectations fuels eugenic arguments, even in non-authoritarian contexts.

The concept of 'the imaginary' provides a framework for understanding societal concepts of human enhancement.

Implications:

Understanding the 'moral problem of difference' is crucial for ethical considerations in human enhancement.
The study suggests that societal desires and dissatisfaction significantly influence the direction of human enhancement debates.
Re-evaluating the ethical landscape of human enhancement requires acknowledging the persistent influence of historical eugenic underpinnings.