Upholding Dignitas Personae in the Human Gene Editing Debate
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8135158 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Maria Antonietta Castaldi (0000-0001-9004-1022, Ospedali Riuniti San Giovanni di Dio e Ruggi d'Aragona, corresponding author), Fabio Gragnano (Studio Filosofico Domenicano, P.za S. Domenico, 13, 40124 Bologna, Italy), Fabio Maria Gragnano (Domus Medica) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 341 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-09 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel17030341 |
| OpenAlex | W7134245493 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 77 |
This essay offers a philosophical and bioethical upholding of Dignitas Personae §27, which cautions against the use of human gene editing (HGE) for non-therapeutic purposes. After situating the debate within the historical development of gene-editing technologies, the essay classifies enhancement-oriented interventions—physical, behavioral, and cognitive—and argues that such practices risk violating human dignity, diminishing authentic freedom, and promoting a deterministic anthropology. Drawing on a personalist framework, the analysis incorporates insights from neuroscience, genetics, and natural law. In the second part, the essay examines Aristotelian–Thomistic metaphysics, integrating Ernest Mayr’s notion of teleonomy to explain how the rational soul actualizes its perfect operations. It is argued that non-therapeutic HGE, especially germline modifications, may disrupt the ontological structure of the human person by impairing the soul’s expression through properly disposed prime matter. Ultimately, Dignitas Personae stands as a coherent and prescient response to emerging biotechnologies, defending the human person against technocratic reductionism and the ideological drive to transcend our embodied finitude
Bioethics · Expression (computer science · Ideology · Natural (archaeology · Reductionism · Soul · Technocracy · Evolution and Science Education · Medieval Philosophy and Theology · Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations
Emergence
Theistic Evolution
Procreative Beneficence
Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids
The Sequence of the Human Genome
Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome
Cause and Effect in Biology
The Transhumanist Reader
Freedom of Thought in the Age of Neuroscience
Beyond safety
Chemical reduction and quantum interpretation
Understanding the Relationship Between Disability and Enhancement
The Problem of Thomistic Parts
What Do Prospective Parents Owe to Their Children
Once again
An Aristotelian Account of Evolution and the Contemporary Philosophy of Biology
Human Genetic Enhancements
Transhumanism
DNA translated
In Medias Res
| Highly cited | No |
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