Human genome analysis and the concept of human nature

The possibilities opened up by human genome analysis appear to provide support for quasi-deterministic views of human nature but an analysis of the debate over sociobiology shows that we cannot derive a theory of human nature directly from biological and genetic evidence. From this perspective human genome analysis and the forms of human genetic engineering that it makes possible cannot alter our concept of human nature although they make us more aware of the 'plasticity' of the human. The possibility envisaged by some neo-eugenicists (and often accepted by their opponents) of a radical reshaping of human nature is as misconceived as the view of some sociobiologists that human nature is biologically determined. Human genome analysis raises formidable ethical, social and legal problems and we need to develop criteria that will enable us to decide which kinds of genetic manipulation will help to enhance human life and which will not. This will involve having a clear concept of human nature and the values it implies. But we shall not derive this concept of human nature from genetics itself.