Abstract
If human enhancement consists in the making of better humans, then we obviously need to have some idea of what “better” humans would be like and in what respect they would be “better.” However, it can easily be shown that what counts as better is in fact highly context-dependent, so that there is no universal measure for human improvement. Cognitive enhancement is usually justified as boosting performance, but whether it is desirable for people to perform better very much depends on what they are getting better at, what end the improvement serves, and who benefits from it. Even an enhancement for an alleged “common good” can be, all things considered, highly undesirable.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Engineering the Human Germline, Symposium at UCLA, 20 March 1998.
- 2.
DNA. British Documentary, 2003.
- 3.
Scientific American, 4 December 2008.
References
Bostrom N (2005) In defense of posthuman dignity. Bioethics 19(3):202–214
Bostrom N (2008) Why I want to be a posthuman when I grow up. In: Gordijn B, Chadwick R (eds) Medical enhancement and posthumanity. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 107–136
Buchanan A, Brock DW, Daniels N, Wikler D (2000) From chance to choice. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Caplan A (2006) Is it wrong to try to improve human nature? In: Miller P, Wilsdon J (eds) Better humans? The politics for human enhancement and life extension. Demos, London, pp 31–39
Glaser B et al (2011) Age- and puberty-dependent association between IQ score in early childhood and depressive symptoms in adolescence. Psychol Med 41:333–343
Harris J (2011) Moral enhancement and freedom. Bioethics 25(2):102–111
Hauskeller M (2010) Human enhancement and the common good. AJOB Neurosci 1(3):37–39
Hauskeller M (2011) Human enhancement and the giftedness of life. Philos Pap 40(1):55–79
Lewis CS (1955) The abolition of man. Macmillan, New York
Luria AR (1987) The mind of a mnemonist. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Persson I, Savulescu J (2010) Moral transhumanism. J Med Philos 35(6):656–669
Savulescu J (2001) Procreative beneficence: why we should select the best children. Bioethics 15(5–6):413–426
Szalavitz M (2009) Popping smart pills: the case for cognitive enhancement. TIME Magazine, 6.1.09
Vedder A, Klaming L (2010) Human enhancement for the common good: using neurotechnologies to improve eyewitness memories. AJOB Neurosci 1(3):22–33
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hauskeller, M. (2013). Cognitive Enhancement – To What End?. In: Hildt, E., Franke, A. (eds) Cognitive Enhancement. Trends in Augmentation of Human Performance, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6253-4_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6253-4_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-6252-7
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6253-4
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)