scholarly journals Is human enhancement intrinsically bad?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina Kudlek
Keyword(s):  
Human Dignity ◽  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Enhancement Technologies

AbstractA pertinent concern in the human enhancement debate is that human enhancement technologies (HET) are intrinsically bad and, hence, morally impermissible. This article evaluates the related claims about the intrinsic badness of HET by looking into philosophical theories of intrinsic value. It investigates how well-established conceptions of intrinsic value map onto typical bioconservative arguments about HET's intrinsic badness. Three predominant variants of these arguments are explored and found wanting: (i) HET are intrinsically bad owing to their unnaturalness; (ii) the pursuit of HET reveals intrinsically bad character (“the desire for mastery”); and (iii) HET will necessarily undermine intrinsically valuable things (e.g., human dignity). My analysis shows that the debate on intrinsic value places serious constraints on claims about the intrinsic badness of HET. More specifically, the analysis shows that bioconservative arguments are, for the most part, inconsistent, misconceived, and overly speculative. Enhancement interventions cannot be bearers of intrinsic value on any of its plausible understandings, and, even if we could grant such a possibility, there are no compelling reasons to presume that the intrinsic value of HET would be necessarily negative. As a result, claims regarding their moral impermissibility are unwarranted.

Technic Self-Determination

2014 ◽  
pp. 203-224
Author(s):  
Franco Cortese
Keyword(s):  
Human Dignity ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Will ◽  
Human Capacity ◽  
Enhancement Technologies ◽  
The Human Condition

This chapter addresses concerns that the development and proliferation of Human Enhancement Technologies (HET) will be (a) dehumanizing and a threat to human dignity and (b) a threat to our autonomy and sovereignty as individuals. Contrarily, HET can be shown to constitute the most effective foreseeable means of increasing the autonomy and sovereignty of individual members of society. Furthermore, this chapter elaborates the position that the use of HET exemplifies—and indeed even intensifies—our most human capacity and faculty, namely the desire for increased self-determination (i.e., control over the determining circumstances and conditions of our own selves and lives), which is referred to as the will toward self-determination. Based upon this position, arguably, the use of HET bears fundamental ontological continuity with the human condition in general and with the historically ubiquitous will toward self-determination in particular as it is today and has been in the past. HET will not be a dehumanizing force, but will rather serve to increase the very capacity and characteristic that characterizes us as human more accurately than anything else.

Knowing What to Wish For

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Vallor ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Dignity ◽  
Mass Culture ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Enhancement Technologies ◽  
Normative Content ◽  
The Way

Through an analysis of the appeals to human dignity used by bioconservatives to criticize transhumanist proposals for aggressive development of human enhancement technologies, I identify an implicit tension within such appeals that renders them internally incoherent and ultimately unpersuasive. However, I point the way to a more compelling objection to radical human enhancement available to bioconservatives, a version of the argument from hubris that employs an Aristotelian account of prudential virtue in order to challenge the normative content of the liberal transhumanist vision. The vulnerability of the transhumanist project to this argument is underscored by Ortega y Gasset’s critique of technological mass culture, in which he suggests that humans may increasingly lack the prudential virtues needed to identify and authentically choose those ends worthy of technological pursuit.

scholarly journals Reading Posthuman Ethics in Daniel Wilson’s Amped

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-90
Author(s):  
Omar M. Abdullah ◽  
Hardev Kaur
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Human Form ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Technological World ◽  
Enhancement Technologies

In 20th century and beyond, humans have witnessed numerous advances in technology which have opened new horizons. Science and technology redesigned human life exponentially and humans always search for a more technological world and hence more comfort and ease. As such, going past human confinement could be accessible through a few changes in human form, but these changes posture a contentious point since people grow into being more reliant on technology in order to execute their desires and needs. What will happen to humanness and humanity? What will happen to their moralities and behaviors? In this manner, technological development could have both promising and discouraging pictures within the human mind. The current study cites Daniel H. Wilson’s Amped (2013) to discuss the clash of views between Transhumanists and Bioconservatives. Transhumanists believe that human improvement advances should be made broadly accessible, where people could adopt these innovations and apply them to themselves to have a better life. In particular, bioconservatives consider human enhancement technologies as ‘dehumanizing’ for these technologies might weaken human dignity and affect something that is profoundly valuable about being human. As such, Posthuman theory is consulted in order to analyze the ethical and moral concerns of human enhancement technology in Wilson’s Amped.  The findings are summed in the importance of ethics in any kind of enhancement and conclude that the trustworthy source is a priority to ensure success.

Redefining the Boundaries of Humanity and the Human Body

2014 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
José M. Galván ◽  
Rocci Luppicini
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Ethical Question ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Species ◽  
Technological Society ◽  
Technical Ability ◽  
Enhancement Technologies

What are the boundaries of humanity and the human body within our evolving technological society? Within the field of technoethics, inquiry into the origins of the species is both a biological and ethical question as scholars attempt to grapple with conflicting views of what it means to be human and what attributes are core to human beings within the era of human enhancement technologies. Based on a historical and conceptual analysis, this chapter uses a technoethical lens to discuss defining characteristics of the human species as homo technicus. Under this framework, both symbolic capacity and technical ability are assumed to be grounded within the free and ethical nature of human beings. Ideas derived from Modernity and Postmodernity are drawn upon to provide a more encompassing view of humans that accommodates both its technical and ethical dimensions as homo technicus.

scholarly journals The Ethics of Genetic Cognitive Enhancement: Gene Editing or Embryo Selection?

Philosophies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Marcelo de Araujo
Keyword(s):  
Gene Editing ◽  
Cognitive Enhancement ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Embryo Selection ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Philosophical Debate ◽  
Human Genomics ◽  
Enhancement Technologies

Recent research with human embryos, in different parts of the world, has sparked a new debate on the ethics of genetic human enhancement. This debate, however, has mainly focused on gene-editing technologies, especially CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats). Less attention has been given to the prospect of pursuing genetic human enhancement by means of IVF (In Vitro Fertilisation) in conjunction with in vitro gametogenesis, genome-wide association studies, and embryo selection. This article examines the different ethical implications of the quest for cognitive enhancement by means of gene-editing on the one hand, and embryo selection on the other. The article focuses on the ethics of cognitive enhancement by means of embryo selection, as this technology is more likely to become commercially available before cognitive enhancement by means of gene-editing. This article argues that the philosophical debate on the ethics of enhancement should take into consideration public attitudes to research on human genomics and human enhancement technologies. The article discusses, then, some of the recent findings of the SIENNA Project, which in 2019 conducted a survey on public attitudes to human genomics and human enhancement technologies in 11 countries (France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Brazil, South Africa, South Korea, and United States).

The ‘capture or kill’ debate revisited: putting the ‘human’ back in ‘human enhancement of soldiers’

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-120
Author(s):  
J Francisco Lobo
Keyword(s):  
Moral Education ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Military Training ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Cutting Edge ◽  
Military Necessity ◽  
Droit International ◽  
Droit International Humanitaire

This article revisits the cutting-edge ‘capture or kill’ debate in the field of IHL, offering a fresh outlook that reconstrues the notion of ‘human enhancement of soldiers’ from a normative standpoint. After sketching the debate and inquiring into its root causes, the article analyses the interplay between military necessity and humanity, in order to endow the latter with its own content drawing on the notions of military honour and human dignity. Finally, it presents a proposal for the moral education of soldiers during military training. Cet article revisite le débat moderne du « capturer ou tuer » dans le domaine du droit international humanitaire. Il propose une vision nouvelle qui réinterprète d’un point de vue normatif la notion d’amélioration des capacités humaines à des fins militaires. Après avoir initié le débat et recherché son origine, l’auteur analyse l’interaction entre nécessité militaire et humanité, afin de doter cette dernière de son propre contenu, en se basant sur les notions d’honneur militaire et de dignité humaine. Enfin, l’auteur formule une proposition d’éducation morale des militaires au cours de leur entraînement. In dit artikel wordt het toonaangevende debat over “gevangennemen of doden” op het gebied van het IHR herbekeken en wordt aan de hand van een nieuw perspectief het begrip 'mensverbetering van soldaten' geherinterpreteerd vanuit een normatief standpunt. Na het debat kort te hebben beschreven en de diepere oorzaken ervan te hebben onderzocht, analyseert het artikel de wisselwerking tussen militaire noodzaak en menselijkheid, om aan dit laatste begrip een eigen inhoud te geven die gebaseerd is op de begrippen militaire eer en menselijke waardigheid. Ten slotte wordt een voorstel gedaan voor de morele opvoeding van soldaten tijdens de militaire opleiding. El artículo aborda una vez más el afilado debate en torno a “captura o mata” en el ámbito del DIH, ofreciendo una visión renovada que vuelve a construir el concepto de “Realce Humano de los Soldados” desde una nueva perspectiva normativa. Tras examinar los presupuestos del debate e indagar sobre sus causas remotas, el artículo analiza la interacción entre necesidad militar y humanidad, con la finalidad de profundizar en esto último partiendo de la base de los conceptos de honor militar y dignidad humana. Por último, se presenta una propuesta a seguir en la educación moral de los soldados durante el periodo de formación. Questo articolo rivisita l’innovativo dibattito sul tema della ‘Cattura o Uccisione’ nel diritto internazionale umanitario, offrendo una nuova prospettiva che ricostruisce il concetto della ‘valorizzazione umana dei soldati’ da un punto di vista normativo. Dopo aver delineato il dibattito e indagato le sue cause alla radice, l’articolo analizza l’interazione tra necessità militare e umanità, al fine di dotare quest’ultima di elementi propri, attingendo alle nozioni di onore militare e dignità umana. Infine, presenta una proposta per l’educazione morale dei soldati durante l’addestramento militare. Dieser Artikel nimmt die brandaktuelle „gefangen nehmen oder töten“-Debatte im Bereich des humanitären Völkerrechts erneut unter die Lupe und bietet eine neue Perspektive, die den Begriff „Verbesserung der menschlichen Fähigkeiten für Militärzwecke“ aus normativem Standpunkt rekonstruiert. Nach einer Skizzierung der Debatte und einer Untersuchung ihrer Ursachen analysiert der Artikel das Zusammenspiel zwischen militärischer Notwendigkeit und Menschlichkeit, um letzterer einen eigenen Inhalt zu geben, der sich auf die Begriffe militärische Ehre und Menschenwürde stützt. Schließlich legt er einen Vorschlag zur moralischen Erziehung der Soldaten während der militärischen Ausbildung vor.

Human Dignity and the Ethics of Human Enhancement

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dónal P. O’Mathúna
Keyword(s):  
Human Dignity ◽  
Human Enhancement
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document