"No" to Human Enhancement? An Assessment from Two Kinds of Daoism

Both advocates and critics of human enhancement technology today agree that it will change fundamental parameters of human existence. This paper explores the ethical dimension of human enhancement from the perspective of Daoism (Daoism is an umbrella under which we have daojia (The lineage of the Dao, or philosophical Daoism) and daojiao (the teachings on the Dao or Daoist religion). In this paper, the discussion is focused on philosophical Daoism represented by Laozi and Zhuangzi in the Pre-Han period and religious Daoism after the Han period to explicate their different views toward technology and human enhancement. English translations of the Daodejing are my own. English quotations from the Zhuangzi text are from Burton Walston's translation.). I contend that Daoist tradition is multifaceted and heterogeneous, encompassing several different outlooks and positions, and thus its views on technology in general and genetic enhancement in particular are much more complicated than a simple answer of yes or no. My discussion focuses on two kinds of Daoism in ancient China; namely, philosophical Daoism represented by Zhuangzi and religious Daoism developed in the later Han period (the firstt-second centuries CE). The paper offers two different accounts of Daoist positions on human enhancement and then discusses their ethical implications.