Moral enhancement
Journal of Applied Philosophy 25 (3):228-245 (2008)
| Abstract | Opponents of biomedical enhancement often claim that, even if such enhancement would benefit the enhanced, it would harm others. But this objection looks unpersuasive when the enhancement in question is a moral enhancement — an enhancement that will expectably leave the enhanced person with morally better motives than she had previously. In this article I (1) describe one type of psychological alteration that would plausibly qualify as a moral enhancement, (2) argue that we will, in the medium-term future, probably be able to induce such alterations via biomedical intervention, and (3) defend future engagement in such moral enhancements against possible objections. My aim is to present this kind of moral enhancement as a counter-example to the view that biomedical enhancement is always morally impermissible. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,631 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesThomas Douglas (2013). Moral Enhancement Via Direct Emotion Modulation: A Reply to John Harris. Bioethics 27 (3):160-168.
Nick Bostrom (2008). Dignity and Enhancement. In Adam Schulman (ed.), Human Dignity and Bioethics: Essays Commissioned by the President's Council on Bioethics. [President's Council on Bioethics.
Rebecca Roache & Steve Clarke (forthcoming). Bioconservatism, Bioliberalism, and Repugnance. Monash Bioethics Review.
Allen Buchanan (2008). Enhancement and the Ethics of Development. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 18 (1):pp. 1-34.
Joanna Zylinska (2010). Playing God, Playing Adam: The Politics and Ethics of Enhancement. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 7 (2):149-161.
Richard Twine (2007). Thinking Across Species—a Critical Bioethics Approach to Enhancement. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 28 (6):509-523.
Ingmar Persson & Julian Savulescu (2013). Getting Moral Enhancement Right: The Desirability of Moral Bioenhancement. Bioethics 27 (3):124-131.
John Harris (2011). Moral Enhancement and Freedom. Bioethics 25 (2):102-111.
Allen E. Buchanan (2011). Beyond Humanity?: The Ethics of Biomedical Enhancement. Oxford University Press.
Ingmar Persson & Julian Savulescu (2008). The Perils of Cognitive Enhancement and the Urgent Imperative to Enhance the Moral Character of Humanity. Journal of Applied Philosophy 25 (3):162-177.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads46 ( #23,764 of 548,973 )Recent downloads (6 months)3 ( #25,799 of 548,973 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
