Creating Human Nature
The Political Challenges of Genetic Engineering

Introduces the new field of 'political bioethics,' focusing on the peculiarly political questions posed by human genetic engineering.

Benjamin Gregg (Author)

9781108789714, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 October 2022

250 pages
22.8 x 15.1 x 1.6 cm, 0.43 kg

Human genetic enhancement, examined from the standpoint of the new field of political bioethics, displaces the age-old question of truth: What is human nature? This book displaces that question with another: What kind of human nature should humans want to create for themselves? To answer that question, this book answers two others: What constraints should limit the applications of rapidly developing biotechnologies? What could possibly form the basis for corresponding public policy in a democratic society? Benjamin Gregg focuses on the distinctly political dimensions of human nature, where politics refers to competition among competing values on which to base public policy, legislation, and political culture. This book offers citizens of democratic communities a broad perspective on how they together might best approach urgent questions of how to deal with the socially and morally challenging potential for human genetic engineering.

Part I. The Political Bioethics of Regulating Genetic Engineering: 1. Regulation Guided by Proceduralism
2. Regulation Guided by Less-than-Universal Standards
3. Regulation Guided by Human Nature as Construction Not Essence
4. Regulation Guided by Human Dignity as Decisional Autonomy Not Essence
Part II. The Political Dimensions of Engineering Intelligence: 5. Threshold Capacities for Political Participation
6. Political Capacity of Human Intelligence and the Challenge of AI
7. Political Ambiguity of Personalized Education Informed by the Pupil's Genome
Part III. Inequality as Unintended Consequence Locally and as a Planetary Phenomenon: 8. A Human Right to Freedom from Genetic Disability
9. Deploying Epigenetics to Identify Responsibility for Health Inequalities
10. Genetic Engineering as a Technology of the Anthropocene
Coda: Bioethics as Political Theory.

Subject Areas: Genetic engineering [TCBG], Impact of science & technology on society [PDR], Medical & healthcare law [LNTM], Political science & theory [JPA], Ethical issues & debates [JFM], Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ]