Publication

Book	Global Issues and Ethical Considerations in Human Enhancement Technologies
Editor	, Thompson Steven J
Publisher	IGI Global, Hershey PA
Page(s)	54 - 66
ISBN	9781466660106
Title of proceedings	Global Issues and Ethical Considerations in Human Enhancement Technologies
DOI	10.4018/978-1-4666-6010-6.ch004

URL	http://www.zora.uzh.ch/97728/
Type of Open Access	Repository (Green Open Access)

Two major problems persist in the debate regarding the ethics of human enhancement. First, there is a lack of discussion and agreement on a definition of human enhancement. Second, the commonly used bioethical principles of justice, safety, and autonomy are jointly insufficient to assess the morality of human enhancement. This chapter attempts to define these problems and to propose a possible solution. Defending a qualitative definition of human enhancement, the authors suggest examining “perfectionist notions” of what it means to live a good human life in order to give additional normative tools to assess the morality of human enhancements. This chapter will help to clarify the debate and move it along by arguing that characteristics of the ideal human life, once defined and seen as the goal of human enhancement, can help assess the morality of a given human enhancement.