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Bioethics, the Ontology of Life, and the Hermeneutics of Biology

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Phenomenology of Bioethics: Technoethics and Lived-Experience

Part of the book series: The International Library of Bioethics ((ILB,volume 84))

Abstract

The phenomenological starting point of this paper is the world of the bioethical subject, the person engaged in moral deliberation about practices of intervention on living bodies. This paper develops a perspective informed by the hermeneutic tradition in phenomenology, approaching bioethical thinking as situated within specific contexts of meaning and conceptuality, frameworks through which the phenomena of the world are interpreted and made sense of by the reasoning subject. It focuses on one dimension of the hermeneutic world of contemporary bioethics, that of the relation between bioethics and biological science. This paper shows how taking a phenomenological-hermeneutic perspective can highlight an important but often overlooked way in which biology helps to structure spaces of bioethical sense-making, with substantive consequences for moral judgement. Bioscientific discourse provides us with interpretive resources for making sense of the living world around us and within us. Different interpretive resources reflect different assumptions about the ontology of living beings, humans included. Since, as is argued here, judgements about moral significance in bioethics can depend upon suppositions about the ontology of life, the way that scientific discourse interpretively constitutes the phenomena of life as intentional objects can thereby channel moral thinking in particular ways. The central thesis of this paper is that critical engagement with this ‘hermeneutics of biology’ is vital for contemporary bioethics. To illustrate, the paper explores the hermeneutic constitution of the genome and its relationship to issues of human identity in the context of genetic technology. Alternative interpretations of the genome—as ‘programme’ or as ‘developmental resource’—differently shape bioethical reasoning in this context. Choices of description in bioscience are in this way partly ethical questions, questions about how we ought to comport ourselves towards each other and the living world beyond.

For helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper the author thanks Lewis Coyne, Jacob Lucas, Giovanna Colombetti, and participants at the University of Exeter’s Egenis Research Exchange (ERE), 27th April 2020.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See e.g. Gadamer (2004 [1993]); Toombs (2001); Svenaeus (2018a); Carel (2016); and several of the other chapters in this volume.

  2. 2.

    Hermeneutics is the study of interpretation. In this paper I refer specifically to phenomenological or ‘philosophical’ hermeneutics—the approach to hermeneutics that has grown out of the philosophical school of phenomenology, particularly via the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer, which in turn drew from that of Martin Heidegger. Canonical texts are Heidegger’s 1923 lectures, OntologyThe Hermeneutics of Facticity (1999 [1923]), many of the core ideas of which were later incorporated into Being and Time (2010 [1927]); and Gadamer’s Truth and Method (1993 [1960]). This tradition also has roots in earlier thinkers such as Friedrich Schleiermacher and Wilhelm Dilthey: see Grondin (1994 [1991]) for a detailed history.

  3. 3.

    On this specific point see Rehmann-Sutter et al. (2012, pp. 440, 442–443). This perspective has been incorporated into the qualitative methods of the human sciences more generally by e.g. Van Manen (1990); Smith et al. (2009); see also discussion in Ferrarello and Zapien (2018, Chap. I.1).

  4. 4.

    Key texts by these authors consulted for this paper: Rehmann-Sutter (2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2018); Scully (2006a, b, 2008, 2017, 2018); Scully and Rehmann-Sutter (2001); Rehmann-Sutter et al. (2012); Rehmann-Sutter and Mahr (2016).

  5. 5.

    See Rehmann-Sutter (2000, pp. 342–343; 2006, pp. 329–331; 2010, pp. 13–14, 26); Scully (2006a, pp. 351, 358); Neumann-Held and Rehmann-Sutter (2006, pp. 2–3). For a similar assessment about the inter-relation of bioethics and biological theory, representing a more ‘analytic’ tradition, see Lewens (2015, pp. 1–8).

  6. 6.

    See Heidegger (1999 [1923], 2010[1927], §32); Gadamer (1993 [1960]; 1990 [1976]; 1994 [1991]).

  7. 7.

    That is, a view that “can be rationally justified independently of the standpoint of the persons whose conception it is” (Wachterhauser 2002, p. 52). The specific phrase ‘view from nowhere’ is borrowed from Nagel (1986).

  8. 8.

    See Husserl (1982 [1913], §32). The notion of the epoché is presented as “epistemological reduction” or “bracketing” in the earlier The Idea of Phenomenology (1964 [1907], Lecture II).

  9. 9.

    This is the key to understanding Heidegger’s taming of the apparently vicious ‘hermeneutic circle,’ an insight developed by Gadamer: see Heidegger (2010 [1927], §32); Gadamer (1993 [1960], pp. 293, 262, 375–376); Grondin (2002, pp. 46–47; 1994 [1991], pp. 111–112).

  10. 10.

    See also Gadamer (1993 [1960], pp. 291–293, 375–379); Grondin (2002, pp. 39–42).

  11. 11.

    Gadamer (1993 [1960]). Although, he did also deploy a phenomenological approach in various medical contexts (2004 [1993]).

  12. 12.

    See Rehmann-Sutter (2000, p. 343; 2010, pp. 13–14; 2018, pp. 14–16); Rehmann-Sutter and Mahr (2016, pp. 88–93).

  13. 13.

    Rehmann-Sutter et al. (2012); Kanter (2019); Ohnsorge (2015).

  14. 14.

    Rehmann-Sutter et al. (2012). Quote from page 445.

  15. 15.

    Rehmann-Sutter et al. (2012, p. 436). See other examples of qualitative bioethical research informed by this approach in Rehman-Sutter and Mahr (2016); Scully et al. (2004); Ohnsorge (2015); Gallagher et al. (2018); and discussion of this method in Kanter (2019, pp. 25–26).

  16. 16.

    Rehmann-Sutter et al. (2012, p. 440). See also 443, and Scully and Rehmann-Sutter (2001, pp. 87–88).

  17. 17.

    Rehmann-Sutter et al. (2012, pp. 438–439).

  18. 18.

    Rehmann-Sutter et al. (2012, pp. 440, 442–443); Ohnsorge (2015, Chap. 1).

  19. 19.

    See e.g. Svenaeus (2018b, pp. 78–80); Kingma (2018, 2019).

  20. 20.

    See Rehmann-Sutter (2000, p. 342; 2002, p. 24).

  21. 21.

    See Lewontin (1991, Chap. 1).

  22. 22.

    Rehmann-Sutter (2010, p. 26).

  23. 23.

    Rehmann-Sutter (2000, p. 343; 2010, pp. 13–14; 2018, pp. 14–16); Rehmann-Sutter and Mahr (2016, pp. 88–93). See also a good discussion of Rehmann-Sutter’s approach to this issue in Kanter (2019, pp. 21–25).

  24. 24.

    As in the title of their seminal sociological study The DNA Mystique: Nelkin and Lindee (2004 [1995]).

  25. 25.

    This account of ‘genetic essentialism’ is largely inspired by important work by Susan Oyama over several decades, e.g. (2000a [1985], Chs 5–6; 2000b, pp. 152–155; 2002; 2009, §§3.2.2–3.3; 2010, pp. 406–407, 410–416; 2016). See also Oyama et al. (2001, p. 3); Lewontin (2000 [1998], Chap. 1); Mauron (2001, 2002); Barnes and Dupré (2008, Chaps. 7 & 8); Godfrey-Smith (2007, p. 113); Rehmann-Sutter (2002, pp. 29–33; 2008, p. 39; 2010); Scully (2006a).

  26. 26.

    See Gelman and Hirschfeld (1999); Gelman (2003); Linquist et al. (2011); Medin and Ortony (1989, pp. 183–186); Lewens (2015, p. 52).

  27. 27.

    For some classic and archetypical examples of the programme conception in genetic science writing, see Mayr (1961, p. 1504); Jacob (1993 [1970], pp. 1–2); Dawkins (1989 [1976], Chap. 3); Maynard Smith and Szathmáry (1999, p. 2).

  28. 28.

    The distinction between ‘genotype’ and ‘phenotype’ originated with Wilhelm Johannsen in 1909. By the former he meant the “inner constitution” of the being, and the latter the perishable manifestation of this: i.e. essence and appearance (‘phenotype,’ in fact, was named after the Greek term phainein, ‘to appear’): see Meloni (2016, pp. 60–63).

  29. 29.

    Oyama et al. (2001, p. 3).

  30. 30.

    When the language of programmes and blueprints dominates, modern biology acquires a (somewhat ironic) conceptual isomorphism with natural theology, and its descendent intelligent design theory, with the role of the designer God being played by Natural Selection, conceived of as a purpose-imbuing force. Here is not the place to pull this thread further, but see Rehmann-Sutter (2010, p. 16); Oyama (2000a [1985], pp. 12–15; 2009); Ingold (2013, Chap. 5).

  31. 31.

    See e.g. (Dupré 2012, Part 2); Barnes and Dupré (2008, Chaps. 2 & 3); Gilbert and Epel (2009, Chap. 2); Noble (2006); Sterelny and Griffiths (1999, Chaps. 5 & 6).

  32. 32.

    See e.g. West-Eberhard (2003, 2005a, 2005b); Moczek (2012, 2015); Gilbert and Epel (2009, Chap. 1); Gilbert et al. (2015); Laland et al. (2015); Dupré (2012, pp. 257–260).

  33. 33.

    On the mediation of development by the organism’s sensitive responses to the environment, see e.g. Barker (2015, pp. 47, 53–62); Laland et al. (2015, pp. 3–5); West-Eberhard (2005b); Moczek (2012, 2015). On the mediation of the organism’s development by its own action on and modification of the environment, part of what is studied in the growing field of niche construction theory, see e.g. Oyama et al. (2001, p. 4); Barker (2015, pp. 53, 62); Nicholson (2014, p. 350); Moczek (2012, pp. 115–116; 2015). On niche construction theory in general, which focuses mostly on the significance of organism-environment co-construction for evolutionary process, see e.g. Laland et al. (2001).

  34. 34.

    See Oyama (2000a [1985], p. 23; see also 58).

  35. 35.

    For example, one can attempt save a version of the programme conception by making the context-sensitivity and plasticity of ontogeny internal to the instructions contained in the programme, instructions that then must be seen as containing highly convoluted conditional branching structures, or disjunctive information. For examples of this move see Tooby and Cosmides (1992, pp. 38–40, 45–46); Williams (1996, p. 62); and for critical discussion of this and similar ideas, see Griffiths (2001, p. 397); Sterelny and Griffiths (1999, p. 104); Barker (2015, p. 49); Linquist et al. (2011, pp. 444–445); Oyama (2000a [1985], pp. 66–67, 131); Laland et al. (2015, pp. 3–5); Moczek (2012, 2015).

  36. 36.

    Gadamer (1993 [1960], p. 268).

  37. 37.

    For similar views regarding the status of the debate around the genetic ‘programme’, see Neumann-Held and Rehmann-Sutter (2006, pp. 4–6); Rehmann-Sutter (2006, p. 330; 2002, p. 38; 2010, p. 22); Dupré (2012, pp. 254–255).

  38. 38.

    What I’m labelling ‘developmental constructivism’ is also sometimes called ‘constructivist interactionism,’ a ‘constructivist’ or ‘constructionist’ approach to development, or theory of ‘constructive development.’ Its basic ideas are central to various schools of biological theory, in particular: developmental systems theory (DST), see e.g. Oyama (2000a [1985]); Oyama et al. (2001); Eco-Devo and Eco-Evo-Devo, e.g. Gilbert and Epel (2009); Gilbert et al. (2015); the move towards an ‘Extended Evolutionary Synthesis,’ e.g. Laland et al. (2015); Pigliucci and Müller (2010); and certain versions of systems biology, e.g. Noble (2006). See also the role of similar ideas in the recent call for a turn to ‘process ontology’ in biology: Nicholson and Dupré (2018). It is also advocated strongly by Rehmann-Sutter (e.g. 2002; 2006; 2010) and Scully (e.g. 2006a).

  39. 39.

    Ingold (2011, p. 8).

  40. 40.

    As is often suggested by evolutionary psychologists who employ ideas of genetic programming, e.g. Pinker (2002).

  41. 41.

    Scully (2006a, p. 363) suggests the analogy of musical improvisation for the constructivist understanding of development; and Rehmann-Sutter (2002, p. 39) suggests the metaphor of dance, but one without a “prescribed choreography.”

  42. 42.

    Gilbert (1992, p. 96).

  43. 43.

    See also Mauron (2002).

  44. 44.

    The debate was ostensibly about mitochondrial replacement therapy (so-called ‘three parent’ IVF treatment), which involves transferring the nucleus of the maternal egg into an enucleated donor egg, in order to effectively replace the embryo’s mitochondria, mutations in which can be a cause of certain inherited diseases. However, the objection raised here could apply to any form of germline genetic modification. (Interestingly, the technique in question does not affect nucleic DNA, only that of mitochondria in the egg cell. Some may argue that this is a significant distinction regarding the question of one’s ‘genetic identity.’ However, the objector did not see the distinction as significant in this way, so it remains a good illustration for our purposes.) For more information on the technique, and the UK parliament’s decision to allow the procedure, see Coghlan (2015); Scully (2017).

  45. 45.

    BBC Radio 4 (2015 [my emphasis]).

  46. 46.

    See Scully (2006b, pp. 182–183; 2018, p. 192).

  47. 47.

    For academic examples of this sort of argument see Zohar (1991); Elliot (1993).

  48. 48.

    Neither of which, in fact, need be assumed. Firstly, uniqueness: Monozygotic twins have identical zygotic genome sequences. If DNA sequence defines numerical identity, then we must infer that twins of this sort are not in fact separate persons, but rather one person, with two spatially separate parts. This is, to put it mildly, counter-intuitive: see also Mauron (2002, pp. 959–961). Second, fixity: It is commonly believed that because all the cells in an individual’s body are descended from the same original cell, they contain the same genetic sequence. In fact, genetic heterogeneity can be introduced in various ways, such as through random changes (‘errors’) in DNA copying during mitosis, and various other kinds of genetic mosaicism and chimerism, some very common: see Dupré (2012, pp. 119–122). Furthermore, if we give a fine-grained enough chemical description of DNA, then genetic sequence can vary significantly between different kinds of cell within a particular body, due to processes such as methylation of the cytosine base: see Dupré (2012, p. 123); Barnes and Dupré (2008, pp. 84–87). It is empirical evidence such as this that ‘pulls us up short’ when we assume the hermeneutic framing of the genetic programme.

  49. 49.

    Rehmann-Sutter (2002, pp. 45–47).

  50. 50.

    Scully (2006b, p. 179).

  51. 51.

    Scully (2006b, pp. 179, 183; 2006a, pp. 360–361; 2008, Chap. 6; 2017, pp. 41–45); see also Rehmann-Sutter (2002, pp. 43–47).

  52. 52.

    Scully (2006b, p. 184).

  53. 53.

    For related discussion of various of these issues, see e.g. Scully (2006a, b, 2018); Scully and Rehmann-Sutter (2001).

  54. 54.

    Rehmann-Sutter (2006, p. 331).

  55. 55.

    See also Rehmann-Sutter (2000, pp. 337, 342; 2002, p. 42; 2006, pp. 329–331); Scully (2006a, p. 351).

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Griffiths, J.O. (2021). Bioethics, the Ontology of Life, and the Hermeneutics of Biology. In: Ferrarello, S. (eds) Phenomenology of Bioethics: Technoethics and Lived-Experience. The International Library of Bioethics, vol 84. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65613-3_1

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