Liberal eugenics : in defence of human enhancement /
Public debate about the use of genetic technology is dominated by fears of a Huxleyan 'Brave New World' or a return to the fascist eugenics of the past. In this controversial book, philosopher Nicholas Agar defuses these anxieties and defends the idea that parents should be allowed to enha...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Malden, MA :
Blackwell Pub.,
2005.
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| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | Public debate about the use of genetic technology is dominated by fears of a Huxleyan 'Brave New World' or a return to the fascist eugenics of the past. In this controversial book, philosopher Nicholas Agar defuses these anxieties and defends the idea that parents should be allowed to enhance their children's genetic characteristics. Agar describes three technologies that may soon make liberal eugenics a practical possibility - cloning by somatic cell nuclear transfer, genomics, and genetic engineering - and argues that parents can use these technologies to realize their procreative goals without harming the people they will bring into existence. He rejects the idea that eugenics need divide society into genetic haves and have-nots, and denies that social pressures need force eugenic choices to converge on a single view of human excellence, suggesting that these threats to liberal social arrangements can be resisted. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (viii, 205 pages) |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780470775004 0470775009 9780470777572 0470777575 1281319325 9781281319326 9781405123891 1405123893 9781405123907 1405123907 |