Tom Angier (Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Cape Town)
Human Enhancement and Human Nature
In this paper I look at various moral arguments against human ‘enhancement’ and conclude that they are all inconclusive. The only argument against the project of enhancement which succeeds is formal, namely, that the project itself is ultimately incoherent. It is incoherent, in short, because in order for an enhancement to be worthwhile, there must be a metaphysical background – that of human nature – which yields criteria for worthwhileness. But it is exactly such a metaphysical background which the project disavows.
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