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What is morally salient about enhancement technologies?
1Philosophy & Ethics, Eindhoven University of Technology, IPO 1.09, PO Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands. a.j.k.pols@tue.nl
Journal of Medical Ethics
|December 4, 2010
Summary
Understanding how technologies impact human action and reasoning is key to the human enhancement debate. This study analyzes technology
Area of Science:
- Bioethics
- Philosophy of Technology
- Human Enhancement Studies
Background:
- The human enhancement debate often overlooks the technological means, focusing instead on moral implications of altering human nature.
- A deeper understanding of how technologies influence human action and practical reasoning is crucial for evaluating enhancement's moral salience.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the moral significance of human enhancement technologies by examining their effects on human action and practical reasoning.
- To develop a minimalist conception of human agents as bounded practical reasoners.
- To categorize and evaluate the morally salient effects of various enhancement technologies.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual analysis of human agency and practical reasoning.
- Categorization of technological effects on human action and evaluation of possibilities.
- Comparative analysis of enhancement technologies versus traditional technologies.
Main Results:
- Human enhancement technologies possess morally salient effects in several key areas.
- Not all enhancement technologies exhibit the same morally salient characteristics.
- Continuities exist between the morally salient aspects of enhancement technologies and traditional technologies.
Conclusions:
- Evaluating human enhancement requires understanding its impact on practical reasoning and action.
- The moral salience of enhancement technologies is nuanced and varies across different applications.
- Ethical considerations of enhancement technologies should acknowledge their relationship with existing technologies.
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