Untangling the debate: The ethics of human enhancement

Patrick Lin; Fritz Allhoff

doi:10.1007/s11569-008-0046-7

Untangling the debate: The ethics of human enhancement

Patrick Lin^*, Fritz Allhoff

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

57 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Human enhancement, in which nanotechnology is expected to play a major role, continues to be a highly contentious ethical debate, with experts on both sides calling it the single most important issue facing science and society in this brave, new century. This paper is a broad introduction to the symposium herein that explores a range of perspectives related to that debate. We will discuss what human enhancement is and its apparent contrast to therapy; and we will begin to tease apart the myriad intertwined issues that arise in the debate: (1) freedom & autonomy, (2) health & safety, (3) fairness & equity, (4) societal disruption, and (5) human dignity.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	251-264
Number of pages	14
Journal	NanoEthics
Volume	2
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11569-008-0046-7
Publication status	Published - Dec 2008

Access to Document

10.1007/s11569-008-0046-7

Cite this

@article{dd95897511c04b938b81fdd630dd5f82,

title = "Untangling the debate: The ethics of human enhancement",

abstract = "Human enhancement, in which nanotechnology is expected to play a major role, continues to be a highly contentious ethical debate, with experts on both sides calling it the single most important issue facing science and society in this brave, new century. This paper is a broad introduction to the symposium herein that explores a range of perspectives related to that debate. We will discuss what human enhancement is and its apparent contrast to therapy; and we will begin to tease apart the myriad intertwined issues that arise in the debate: (1) freedom \& autonomy, (2) health \& safety, (3) fairness \& equity, (4) societal disruption, and (5) human dignity.",

keywords = "Autonomy, Dignity, Disruption, Equity, Ethics, Fairness, Freedom, Health, Human enhancement, Nanotechnology, Safety, Society",

author = "Patrick Lin and Fritz Allhoff",

year = "2008",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1007/s11569-008-0046-7",

language = "English",

volume = "2",

pages = "251--264",

journal = "NanoEthics",

issn = "1871-4757",

publisher = "Springer Netherlands",

number = "3",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Untangling the debate

T2 - The ethics of human enhancement

AU - Lin, Patrick

AU - Allhoff, Fritz

PY - 2008/12

Y1 - 2008/12

N2 - Human enhancement, in which nanotechnology is expected to play a major role, continues to be a highly contentious ethical debate, with experts on both sides calling it the single most important issue facing science and society in this brave, new century. This paper is a broad introduction to the symposium herein that explores a range of perspectives related to that debate. We will discuss what human enhancement is and its apparent contrast to therapy; and we will begin to tease apart the myriad intertwined issues that arise in the debate: (1) freedom & autonomy, (2) health & safety, (3) fairness & equity, (4) societal disruption, and (5) human dignity.

AB - Human enhancement, in which nanotechnology is expected to play a major role, continues to be a highly contentious ethical debate, with experts on both sides calling it the single most important issue facing science and society in this brave, new century. This paper is a broad introduction to the symposium herein that explores a range of perspectives related to that debate. We will discuss what human enhancement is and its apparent contrast to therapy; and we will begin to tease apart the myriad intertwined issues that arise in the debate: (1) freedom & autonomy, (2) health & safety, (3) fairness & equity, (4) societal disruption, and (5) human dignity.

KW - Autonomy

KW - Dignity

KW - Disruption

KW - Equity

KW - Ethics

KW - Fairness

KW - Freedom

KW - Health

KW - Human enhancement

KW - Nanotechnology

KW - Safety

KW - Society

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/58049196714

U2 - 10.1007/s11569-008-0046-7

DO - 10.1007/s11569-008-0046-7

M3 - Article

SN - 1871-4757

VL - 2

SP - 251

EP - 264

JO - NanoEthics

JF - NanoEthics

IS - 3

ER -

Untangling the debate: The ethics of human enhancement

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Cite this