Virtue Ethics and Prenatal Genetic Enhancement

Bibliographic Data

ID12978172
AuthorsColin Farrelly (0000-0002-3889-3778, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume1
Issue1
Publication date2007-01-21
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueStudies in Ethics Law and Technology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1941-6008 • E-ISSN: 2194-6280
PublisherBerkeley Electronic Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2202/1941-6008.1016
OpenAlexW2038991471
LanguageEN
Citations received3

In this paper I argue that the virtue ethics tradition can enhance the moral discourse on the ethics of prenatal genetic enhancements in distinctive and valuable ways. Virtue ethics prescribes we adopt a much more provisional stance on the issue of the moral permissibility of prenatal genetic enhancements. A stance that places great care on differentiating between the different stakes involved with developing different phenotypes in our children and the different possible means (environmental vs. genetic manipulation) available to parents for pursuing legitimate concerns of parental love and virtue. Key components of the virtue ethics account of morality, such as the Aristotelian account of happiness, love and the doctrine of the mean, provide an adequate basis for rejecting the claim that it is morally impermissible for parents to pursue (safe and effective) prenatal enhancements. Furthermore, there is good reason to believe that a virtue ethics account of morality could actually support the stronger claim that utilising such interventions can (in certain contexts) be morally required

Environmental ethics · Epistemic virtue · Epistemology · Happiness · Morality · Normative ethics · Sociology · Virtue · Virtue ethics · Ethics and Legal Issues in Pediatric Healthcare · Ethics in medical practice · Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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