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Liberal Eugenics: In Defence of Human Enhancement

ISBN: 978-0-470-77500-4

February 2008

Wiley-Blackwell

224 pages

Description
In this provocative book, philosopher Nicholas Agar defends the idea that parents should be allowed to enhance their children’s characteristics.
  • Gets away from fears of a Huxleyan ‘Brave New World’ or a return to the fascist eugenics of the past
  • Written from a philosophically and scientifically informed point of view
  • Considers real contemporary cases of parents choosing what kind of child to have
  • Uses ‘moral images’ as a way to get readers with no background in philosophy to think about moral dilemmas
  • Provides an authoritative account of the science involved, making the book suitable for readers with no knowledge of genetics
  • Creates a moral framework for assessing all new technologies
About the Author
Nicholas Agar is Senior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington. His previous books include Life’s Intrinsic Value (2001) and Perfect Copy (2002).
Features
  • A provocative defence of the idea that parents should be allowed to enhance their children’s genetic characteristics
  • Gets away from fears of a Huxleyan ‘Brave New World’ or a return to the fascist eugenics of the past
  • Written from a philosophically and scientifically informed point of view
  • Considers real contemporary cases of parents choosing what kind of child to have
  • Uses ‘moral images’ as a way to get readers with no background in philosophy to think about moral dilemmas
  • Provides an authoritative account of the science involved, making the book suitable for readers with no knowledge of genetics
  • Creates a moral framework for assessing all new technologies