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Moral Enhancement.

Thomas Douglas¹

¹Faculty of Philosophy and Christ Church, University of Oxford, St Aldates, Oxford OX1 1DP, UK. thomas.douglas@philosophy.ox.ac.uk.

Journal of Applied Philosophy

|January 10, 2009

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Biomedical moral enhancement could improve individuals' motives, countering claims that enhancements harm others. This research explores a specific moral enhancement and its ethical permissibility for future use.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Bioethics
Moral Philosophy

Background:

Biomedical enhancement is often opposed due to potential harm to others.
Moral enhancement, aiming to improve moral motives, presents a unique case.
The ethical permissibility of altering moral character via technology is debated.

Purpose of the Study:

To describe a plausible type of psychological alteration for moral enhancement.
To argue for the future feasibility of biomedical moral enhancement.
To defend moral enhancement against common objections.

Main Methods:

Conceptual analysis of moral enhancement.
Review of psychological and neurobiological possibilities for intervention.
Ethical argumentation regarding objections to biomedical enhancement.

Main Results:

Identified a specific psychological alteration (e.g., enhanced empathy or reduced aggression) as a potential moral enhancement.
Argued that medium-term biomedical interventions could induce such alterations.
Presented a counter-argument to the claim that all biomedical enhancement is impermissible.

Conclusions:

Biomedical moral enhancement, specifically targeting improved motives, may be ethically permissible.
This form of enhancement serves as a counter-example to blanket prohibitions on biomedical enhancement.
Future research and ethical deliberation on moral enhancement are warranted.