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Published by the ESRC Genomics Network, Genomics, Society and Policy is a peer reviewed online journal that provides an outlet for interdisciplinary research on the social, ethical and legal aspects of genomics and related emergent technologies such as nanotechnology and stem cell research.

Back to list of articles in Vol 6, No.3

Volume 6, No. 3

Genetic intervention and the parent-child relationship

Terrance McConnell

Abstract

There is a long history of opposition to allowing parents to use biotechnology in order to select the traits of their children. Jurgen Habermas’s book, The Future of Human Nature, is an important addition to this literature. Habermas, like C.S. Lewis and Paul Ramsey before him, is concerned that children’s futures are fixed by parental choices and that genetic selection or modification treats children as objects rather than persons. This essay aims to show both why these objections resonate with many and why they nevertheless fail to provide good reasons to prohibit deliberate selection in general, and genetic enhancement in particular.

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