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Deaf by Design: A Business Argument Against Engineering Disabled Offspring

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Abstract

If Solomon is correct in labeling businesses as community citizens because they “are part and parcel of the communities in which they live and flourish, and the responsibilities that they bear are ... intrinsic to their very existence as social entities,” then it follows that other community citizens have reciprocal duties toward them that they, as community citizens, have to any other community citizen. One of these duties is not to harm needlessly another community citizen without its permission. One issue affecting business is genetically engineering children to have characteristics, e.g., deafness, which render them disabled in work environments. Since business is a very large part of society, citizen responsibilities toward it in regard to intentionally creating deaf children should be examined. It is my contention that designing disabled offspring is unethical on the grounds that it causes undue injury to businesses without their permission in any form.

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  1. History and Religious Studies, North Dakota State University, P.O. Box 5075, 402 Minard Hall, Fargo, ND, 58105, USA

    Dennis R. Cooley

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Correspondence to Dennis R. Cooley.

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D.R. Cooley is the Associate Director of the Northern Plains Ethics Institute and an Associate Professor of Philosophy and Ethics at North Dakota State University. His research includes various issues in bioethics, agriculture, and business.

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Cooley, D.R. Deaf by Design: A Business Argument Against Engineering Disabled Offspring. J Bus Ethics 71, 209–227 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9135-0

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