Liberal eugenics 1115424 219470710 2008-06-15T11:31:48Z Lightbot 7178666 Units/dates/other '''Liberal eugenics''' or '''new eugenics''' is the study and non-[[coercive]] use of [[reproductive technology|reproductive]] and [[human genetic engineering|genetic]] technologies to [[human enhancement|enhance human beings]], specifically in regard to biological characteristics and capacities.<ref name="McGee 1997">{{cite book| author = McGee, Glenn| title = The Perfect Baby: A Pragmatic Approach to Genetics| publisher = Rowman & Littlefield| year = 2000| id = ISBN 0-8476-8344-3}}</ref><ref name="Parens 2000">{{cite book| author = Parens, Erik| title = Enhancing Human Traits: Ethical and Social Implications| publisher = Georgetown University Press| year = 2000| id = ISBN 0-87840-780-4}}</ref><ref name="Buchanan 2000">{{cite book| author = Buchanan, Allen; Brock, Dan W.; Daniels, Norman; Wikler, Daniel| title = From Chance to Choice: Genetics and Justice| publisher = Cambridge University Press| year = 2000| id = ISBN 0-521-66977-4}}</ref><ref name="Stock 2002">{{cite book| author = [[Gregory Stock|Stock, Gregory]]| title = Redesigning Humans: Choosing our Genes, Changing our Future| publisher = Mariner Books| year = 2002| id = ISBN 0-618-34083-1}}</ref><ref name="Agar 2004">{{cite book|author = [[Nicholas Agar|Agar, Nicholas]]|title = Liberal Eugenics: In Defence of Human Enhancement|year = 2004|id = ISBN 1-4051-2390-7}}</ref> The term does not necessarily indicate that its proponents are politically or socially liberal in the modern sense. Rather, it is used to differentiate it from the ''[[authoritarian]]'' [[eugenics]] programs of the first half of the 20th century, which were associated with [[pseudoscience]], [[racism]], [[classism]], and coercive methods to decrease the frequency of certain human [[hereditary]] [[Trait (biological)|traits]] passed on to the next generation. The most controversial aspect of those programs was the use of "negative" eugenics laws which allowed government agencies to sterilize individuals alleged to have undesirable genes. Historically, eugenics is often broken into the categories of ''positive'' (encouraging [[reproduction]] in the designated "[[Fitness (biology)|fit]]") and ''negative'' (discouraging reproduction in the designated "unfit"). Many positive eugenics programs were advocated and pursued in early 20th-century eugenics programs, but the negative programs were responsible for the [[compulsory sterilization]] of hundreds of thousands of persons in many countries and states, and were contained in much of the rhetoric of [[Nazi eugenics|Nazi eugenic]] programs of [[racial hygiene]] and [[ethnic cleansing]].<ref name="Buchanan 2000"/> Liberal eugenics is conceived as being mostly "positive", relying more on genetic manipulation than on [[selective breeding]] charts to achieve its aims. It seeks to both minimize [[congenital disorder]] and [[enhancement|enhance]] ability, traditional eugenic goals. It is intended to be under the control of the parents exercizing their [[procreative liberty]] while guided by the principle of [[procreative beneficence]], though the substantial governmental and corporate infrastructure required for [[human genetic engineering]] may limit or steer their actual choices. Currently, [[genetic testing]] such as [[preimplantation genetic diagnosis]], have been developed to allow for embryos carrying [[congenital disorder]]s to be discarded.<ref name="Buchanan 2000"/> A key goal of liberal eugenics is to reduce the role of chance in reproduction. [[Bioethicist]] [[Joseph Fletcher]] laid the intellectual groundwork for liberal eugenics in 1974 when he described an alternative to "reproductive [[roulette]]".<ref name="Fletcher 1974">{{cite book| author = [[Joseph Fletcher|Fletcher, Joseph]]| title = The Ethics of Genetic Control: Ending Reproductive Roulette| publisher = Doubleday| year = 1974| id = ISBN 0385082576}}</ref> His visions soon became a reality when effective human [[in vitro fertilisation]] became possible in 1978. Modern interest in liberal eugenics is believed to have increased ever since. According to [[health care]] [[public policy]] analyst [[RJ Eskow]], '''[[libertarian]] eugenics''' is the term that would more accurately describe the form of eugenics promoted by some propopents in light of their strong opposition to even the minimal [[state intervention]] in [[reprogenetics]]-related issues which would be typical of a [[liberal democracy|liberal democratic]] society.<ref name="Eskow 2007">{{cite paper| author = Eskow, RJ| title = Homo Futurus: How Radically Should We Remake Ourselves - Or Our Children? | date = 2007 | url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/homo-futurus-how-radica_b_39990.html| accessdate=2007-02-02}}</ref> ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=4541 Nicholas Agar - Liberal Eugenics: In Defence of Human Enhancement] *[http://www.law.nyu.edu/clppt/program2001/readings/habermas102501/HabermasGenethicsKorrGesamt2.pdf Jürgen Habermas, On the way to liberal eugenics?] *[http://www.thehumanfuture.org/commentaries/eugenics/eugenics_commentary_cbmitchell01.html State-sponsored Liberal Eugenics Has Just Begun] *[http://womensbioethics.blogspot.com/2006/07/johann-hari-why-i-support-liberal.html Women's Bioethics Blog: Johann Hari: Why I support liberal eugenics] *[http://www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp/pub/eth/kanamori.doc Relief and Shadow of New Liberal Eugenics] *[http://stopeugenics.org/ Allison Bryan : Stop Eugenics!] [[Category:Bioethics]] [[Category:Eugenics]] [[Category:Transhumanism]] [[es:Eugenesia liberal]]