GenEthics: technological intervention in human reproduction as a philosophical problem

Abstract

"Originally published in German as GenEthik by Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH, Hamburg, 1987"--Title page verso. Ever since Plato, human reproduction has been a subject for philosophical speculation. The present time is no exception. Quite the contrary: the present technological revolution within the field of human reproduction has provoked among philosophers reflection and ongoing controversies. In his pioneering book, Kurt Bayertz provides a comprehensive analysis of the philosophical deep structure behind the ongoing controversies. He strikingly relocates some of the central ethical issues concerned with human reproduction and its technological control. The central aim of the book, however, is not to solve the many ethical problems within the field, but to understand the nature of these problems. Such an understanding remains impossible until we realise that technology does not reduce to external power. Control over human reproduction is perhaps the most impressive example of technology as a part of ourselves. We have to face the conclusion that, by changing technology, we change ourselves. Foreword / H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr. -- 1. At the start of a technological revolution -- Pt. I. Towards Autoevolution -- 2. Reproduction 'according to philosophical principles' -- 3. The evolution of eugenics -- 4. Reconstructing humanity -- 5. The great uneasiness -- Pt. II. The Destruction of Human Substance -- 6. Human nature -- 7. Substantialism and its difficulties -- 8. Metaphysics with ecological intent -- 9. Playing God -- Pt. III. Subjectivity and Self-Alteration -- 10. The human being as subject -- 11. From substance to consequence -- 12. The problems of subjectivism -- 13. Process without a goal -- 14. GenEthics and reproductive morality.