Liberal or Conservative? Genetic Rhetoric, Disability, and Human Species Modification

Christopher F. Goodey
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Christopher F. Goodey: Centre for Medical Humanities, University of Leicester, 7 Salisbury Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK

Laws, 2016, vol. 5, issue 4, 1-12

Abstract: A certain political rhetoric is implicit and sometimes explicit in the advocacy of human genetic modification (indicating here both the enhancement and the prevention of disability). The main claim is that it belongs to a liberal tradition. From a perspective supplied by the history and philosophy of science rather than by ethics, the content of that claim is examined to see if such a self-description is justified. The techniques are analyzed by which apparently liberal arguments get to be presented as “reasonable” in a juridical sense that draws on theories of law and rhetoric.

Keywords: disability; history of medicine; genetics; rhetoric; rights; bioethics; eugenics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D78 E61 E62 F13 F42 F68 K0 K1 K2 K3 K4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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