Abstract
It is tempting to argue that Kantian moral philosophy justifies prohibiting both human germ-line genetic engineering and non-therapeutic genetic engineering because they fail to respect human dignity. There are, however, good reasons for resisting this temptation. In fact, Kant’s moral philosophy provides reasons that support genetic engineering—even germ-line and non-therapeutic. This is true of Kant’s imperfect duties to seek one’s own perfection and the happiness of others. It is also true of the categorical imperative. Kant’s moral philosophy does, however, provide limits to justifiable genetic engineering.
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Acknowledgement
A previous version of this paper was presented at the Combined 22nd European Association of Committees of Medical Ethics and the 19th European Conference on Philosophy of Medicine and Health Care, Barcelona, Spain, August 26, 2005. I am indebted to the helpful comments of conference participants. I am also indebted to comments by anonymous referees for Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics.
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Gunderson, M. Seeking Perfection: A Kantian Look at Human Genetic Engineering. Theor Med Bioeth 28, 87–102 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11017-007-9030-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11017-007-9030-4