Ethics and Reprogenetic Technologies

Scientific and technological advances in the areas of reproduction and genetics give us new means to shape the lives of our offspring. We now have an unprecedented ability to control not just whether and when we have children, but also to create different family arrangements and decide what children we want to have. These advances thus present us with a variety of important ethical concerns surrounding the creation and alteration of human life. In this course, we will examine questions related to the right to reproduce and what it entails, we will discuss the main arguments for and against the use of these technologies, and we will evaluate the moral permissibility of intentionally altering the genetic makeup of future generations.

Faculty:

Inmaculada de Melo Martin, Ph.D. Professor of Medical Ethics in Medicine and Professor of Medical Ethics in Reproductive Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine.

Reading(s):

On Our Obligation to Select The Best Children: A Reply to Savulescu

In Support of Human Enhancement

Procreative Beneficence: Why We Should Select The Best Children

Powerpoint(s):

Ethics and Reprogenetic Technologies