RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Enhancement and human nature: the case of Sandel
JF Journal of Medical Ethics
JO J Med Ethics
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics
SP 354
OP 356
DO 10.1136/jme.2008.028423
VO 35
IS 6
A1 T Lewens
YR 2009
UL http://jme.bmj.com/content/35/6/354.abstract
AB If we assume that “enhancement” names all efforts to boost human mental and physical capacities beyond the normal upper range found in our species, then enhancement covers such a broad range of interventions that it becomes implausible to think that there is any generic ethical case to be made either for or against it. Michael Sandel has recently made such a generic case, which focuses on the importance of respecting the “giftedness” of human nature. Sandel succeeds in diagnosing an important worry we may have about the use of some enhancements by some parents, but his arguments are better understood as opposing “procrustean parenting” rather than enhancement in general.