Phelan, Elizabeth A. (Author)
University of Colorado at Boulder
Bovens, Luc
Edition Details: Advisor: Bovens, Luc
Physical Details: 199 pp.
Language: English
As researchers develop human gene transfer, one recurring issue is whether it may lead to "eugenics," {italic}i.e.{/italic}, a resurgence of an early 20{super}th{/super} century movement notorious for the racism it exhibited and the harms it caused. I ask why the American eugenics movement was wrongful, and how ethical guidelines for gene transfer might protect against similar harms. I explain what gene transfer is, the status of its development, and two distinctions pertinent to the ethical analysis. One concerns uses of gene transfer, either to treat a disease or enhance a trait; the other is between somatic and germline cells. An historical account of the eugenics movement shows that only germline, not somatic, gene transfer, is subject to the eugenics objection. The historical account also highlights eugenic themes in the ethical debate about gene transfer. One lesson from the eugenics movement is that an ethical paradigm for use of germline gene transfer should seek a definition of "disease" and a public debate about its content. However, the vagueness objection to the treatment/enhancement distinction asserts that "disease" is too vague to define, and implies that we should abandon efforts to do so. I argue this claim conflicts with this lesson of the eugenics movement. Addressing how the disagreement between the value-neutral and value-laden accounts of disease might be resolved, I consider the views of C. L. Stevenson, W. B. Gallie, and Richard Kraut about the nature of disagreements concerning ethical terms. I conclude Kraut's is most applicable to the disagreement concerning "disease," and use it in analyzing the "malady account" of Bernard Gert, Charles Culver, and Danner Clouser. The eugenics movement warns that an ethical paradigm for germline gene transfer must protect the interests of those most likely to be affected, {italic} i.e.{/italic}, children who will be born using this technology. I claim that John A. Robertson's account of procreative liberty does not furnish such safeguards. I analyze how the interests of future children might affect the permissibility of choices concerning germline gene transfer, {italic}i.e.{/italic}, to treat a disease, to enhance a trait, to diminish a trait, or not to prevent a disease.
...MoreDescription Cited in Diss. Abstr. Int. A 62 (2002): 3817. UMI order no. 3034337.
Similar Citations
Article
Jonas Rüppel;
Torsten H. Voigt;
(2019)
The Death of the Clinic? Emerging Biotechnologies and the Reconfiguration of Mental Health
(/isis/citation/CBB246876726/)
Article
Gomela, Elana;
(2011)
Science (Fiction) and Posthuman Ethics: Redefining the Human
(/isis/citation/CBB001212424/)
Book
Maehle, Andreas-Holger;
Geyer-Kordesch, Johanna;
(2002)
Historical and Philosophical Perspectives on Biomedical Ethics: From Paternalism to Autonomy?
(/isis/citation/CBB000201467/)
Chapter
Lorenzo Beltrame;
(2015)
Cellule e ordine sociale: il dibattito italiano sulle cellule staminali
(/isis/citation/CBB813029159/)
Book
Ruse, Michael;
Sheppard, Aryne;
(2001)
Cloning: Responsible Science or Technomadness?
(/isis/citation/CBB000102414/)
Book
Cowan, Ruth Schwartz;
(2008)
Heredity and Hope: The Case for Genetic Screening
(/isis/citation/CBB000831223/)
Article
Czech, Herwig;
Zeidman, Lawrence A.;
(2014)
Walther Birkmayer, Co-describer of L-Dopa, and His Nazi Connections: Victim or Perpetrator?
(/isis/citation/CBB001420781/)
Chapter
Wald, Priscilla;
(2012)
Cells, Genes, and Stories: HeLa's Journey from Labs to Literatur
(/isis/citation/CBB001251794/)
Book
Comfort, Nathaniel C.;
(2012)
The Science of Human Perfection: How Genes Became the Heart of American Medicine
(/isis/citation/CBB001210278/)
Book
Federico Edoardo Perozziello;
(2022)
Il Male in medicina. Scienza, nazismo, eugenetica
(/isis/citation/CBB786277368/)
Book
Nicosia, Francis R.;
Huener, Jonathan;
(2002)
Medicine and Medical Ethics in Nazi Germany: Origins, Practices, Legacies
(/isis/citation/CBB000201239/)
Book
Solinger, Rickie;
(2013)
Reproductive Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know
(/isis/citation/CBB001421871/)
Book
Rubenfeld, Sheldon;
(2010)
Medicine after the Holocaust: From The Master Race to the Human Genome and Beyond
(/isis/citation/CBB001031272/)
Article
Fangerau, Heiner;
(2009)
Genetics and the Value of Life: Historical Dimensions
(/isis/citation/CBB001031905/)
Article
Kenny, Michael G.;
(2002)
Toward a Racial Abyss: Eugenics, Wickliffe Draper, and the Origins of the Pioneer Fund
(/isis/citation/CBB000202789/)
Article
Ladd-Taylor, Molly;
(2014)
Contraception or Eugenics? Sterilization and “Mental Retardation” in the 1970s and 1980s
(/isis/citation/CBB001420274/)
Book
Gray, Richard T.;
(2004)
About Face: German Physiognomic Thought from Lavater to Auschwitz
(/isis/citation/CBB000470730/)
Chapter
López-Guazo, Laura Suárez y;
(2001)
The Mexican Eugenics Society: Racial Selection and Improvement
(/isis/citation/CBB000102720/)
Book
Black, Edwin;
(2003)
War against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race
(/isis/citation/CBB000410628/)
Chapter
Weindling, Paul;
(2010)
Genetics, Eugenics, and the Holocaust
(/isis/citation/CBB001020303/)
Be the first to comment!