Abstract

Human beings have always used different methods to become morally better, more just and more altruistic, as Socrates, Jesus and Gandhi taught: education, teaching, self-discipline, edifying reading, knowledge. They're sometimes effective and sometimes insufficient methods, especially in a global context where the human species itself is threatened to be wiped out by environmental disasters, pandemics, the use of weapons of mass destruction. According to some authors, this dreadful prospect can only be avoided by introducing more effective means of morally enhancing individuals. In the future, genetics, neuroscience and pharmacology could allow us to intervene on the biological nature of human beings, strengthening their moral dispositions to act with greater generosity, compassion, altruism, empathy. However, the moral bio-enhancement project raises many questions: the real and effective possibility of intervening on human traits or dispositions such as emotions, reason or the ability to see what is the right thing to do or the potential threat to the freedom of choice of individuals who would then be forced to behave in the "right" and "good" way. The book presents a cautious but not totally closed approach to moral bio-enhancement, in a phase studded with more doubts than certainties.