Abstract

Human gene modification is proposed for two reasons: to treat diseases and for "genetic enhancement." The success of the Human Genome Project has encouraged speculation that we might pursue nontherapeutic gene enhancements for our children and ourselves. ;While the dissertation examines the ethical arguments for and against genetic enhancement, its major purpose is to evaluate various philosophical anthropologies that accompany the development of genetic technologies and science. Chapter 1 surveys some basic methods and trends in genetic research. Chapter 2 addresses representative accounts of genetic and biologic phenomena provided by Kenneth F. Schaffner and Susan Oyama. ;Georges Canguilhem's historical study of medical ontology and epistemology is treated in Chapters 3 and 4. We argue that Canguilhem identifies some ideological tendencies relevant to the HGP. Further, his depiction of our "normal" human dynamism is compatible with an Aristotelian-Thomistic understanding of human organic and rational inclinations toward the good, corresponding to the precepts of natural law. ;Chapters 5 to 7 move from a defense of the appropriate ends of medicine and of human life to a teleologically-based argument against the moral legitimacy of gene enhancements. Robert Spaemann's and Josef Seifert's contributions are enlisted in chapter 6 to elaborate the telos of human life, eudaimonia---the "life that turns out well." The "normal" pursuit of the ultimate human end is linked with the accommodation of the "human condition" in the well-ordered soul and in the good polis. ;The chapter 7 summary argument asserts that the power to manipulate the genetic elements of the human body induces medicine to transgress moral limits rooted in the ontology of the human person, teleologically inclined to eudaimonia. Acts transgressing these limits violate the natural moral law.Genetic enhancements are instances of these kinds of acts, and are thus morally illicit. Neither physicians nor any other parties should perform or assist in genetic enhancement. ;A teleological view of human conduct proposes a nonenhanced path leading to human happiness. Persons can realize the ontological promise of a life that turns out well in connection with moral excellence---irrespective of their fortune in the "genetic lottery."