Liberal eugenics
Encyclopedia
Liberal eugenics is an ideology
which advocates the use of reproductive
and genetic
technologies where the choice of enhancing human characteristics and capacities
is left to the individual preferences of parent
s acting as consumer
s, rather than the public health
policies of the state
.
in the modern sense. The term refers to any ideology of eugenics
which is inspired by an underlying liberal theory but also to differentiate it from the authoritarian state eugenic programs of the first half of the 20th century, which were associated with coercive methods to decrease the frequency of certain human hereditary traits
passed on to the next generation. The most controversial aspect of those programs was the use of "negative" eugenics laws which allowed government agencies to sterilize individuals alleged to have undesirable gene
s.
Historically, eugenics is often broken into the categories of positive (encouraging reproduction in the designated "fit
") and negative (discouraging reproduction in the designated "unfit"). Many positive eugenic programs were advocated and pursued during the early 20th century, but the negative programs were responsible for the compulsory sterilization
of hundreds of thousands of persons in many countries, and were contained in much of the rhetoric of Nazi eugenic policies of racial hygiene
and genocide
.
Liberal eugenics is conceived to be mostly "positive", relying more on reprogenetics
than on selective breeding
charts to achieve its aims. It seeks to both minimize congenital disorder
s and enhance capacity, traditional eugenic goals. It is intended to be under the control of the parents exercising their procreative liberty while guided by the principle of procreative beneficence
, though the substantial governmental and corporate infrastructure required for reprogenetics may limit or steer their actual choices.
Because of its reliance on new reprogenetic technologies, liberal eugenics is often referred to as "new eugenics", "neo-eugenics" or "techno-eugenics". However, these terms may be misleading since current or future authoritarian eugenic programs do or could also rely on these new biotechnologies.
Eugenicist Frederick Osborn
laid the intellectual groundwork for liberal eugenics as early as the 1930s when he was the director of the Carnegie Institution for Science
. Osborn argued that the public would never accept eugenics under militarized directives; rather, time must be allowed for "eugenic consciousness" to develop in the population. Accordingly, eugenic consciousness did not have to be aggressively and intentionally micro-manufactured; instead, it would develop as an emergent property as capitalist economy increased in complexity.
Osborn argued that all that was needed was to simply wait until a specific set of social structures (a consumer economy
and the nuclear family
) developed to a point of dominance within capitalist culture. Once these structures matured, people would act eugenically without a second thought. Eugenic activity, instead of being an immediately identifiable, repugnant
activity, would become one of the invisible taken-for-granted activities of everyday life (much like getting a vaccination
).
Bioethicist Joseph Fletcher
greatly contributed to liberal eugenic thought in 1974 when he described an alternative to "reproductive roulette
". A key goal of liberal eugenics would thus be to reduce the role of chance in reproduction. His visions soon became a reality when effective human in vitro fertilisation
became possible in 1978. Modern interest in liberal eugenics is believed to have increased ever since. Currently, genetic testing
such as preimplantation genetic diagnosis
, have been developed to allow for embryo
s carrying congenital disorder
s to be discarded.
, argues that liberal eugenics cannot be justified on the basis of the underlying liberal theory
which inspires it. He introduces an alternative to John Rawls
's social primary goods that might be called natural primary goods: hereditable mental and physical capacities and dispositions that are valued across a range of projects and pursuits. He suggests that reprogenetic technologies like embryo selection, cellular surgery, and human genetic engineering
, which aim to enhance "general purpose" traits in offspring are less like childrearing practices a liberal government leaves to the discretion of parents than like practices the state
makes compulsory.
Fox argues that if the liberal commitment to autonomy
is important enough for the state to mandate childrearing practices such as health care and basic education, that very same interest is important enough for the state to mandate safe, effective, and functionally integrated genetic practices that act on analogous all-purpose traits such as resistance to disease and general cognitive functioning. He concludes that the liberal case for compulsory eugenics is a reductio against liberal theory.
According to health care
public policy analyst RJ Eskow, "libertarian
eugenics" is the term that would more accurately describe the form of eugenics promoted by some notable proponents of liberal eugenics, in light of their strong opposition to even minimal state intervention in eugenic family planning
, which would be expected of a social liberal
state that assumes some responsibility for the welfare
of its future citizens.
.
Bill McKibben
, for example, suggests that emerging reprogenetic technologies would be disproportionately available to those with greater financial resources, thereby exacerbating the gap between rich and poor and creating a "genetic divide". Lee M. Silver
, a biologist and science writer who coined the term "reprogenetics" and supports its applications, has nonetheless expressed concern that these methods could create a two-tiered society of genetically-engineered "haves" and "have nots" if social democratic reforms
lag behind implementation of reprogenetic technologies.
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
which advocates the use of reproductive
Reproductive technology
Reproductive technology encompasses all current and anticipated uses of technology in human and animal reproduction, including assisted reproductive technology, contraception and others.-Assisted reproductive technology:...
and genetic
Human genetic engineering
Human genetic engineering is the alteration of an individual's genotype with the aim of choosing the phenotype of a newborn or changing the existing phenotype of a child or adult....
technologies where the choice of enhancing human characteristics and capacities
Human enhancement
Human enhancement refers to any attempt to temporarily or permanently overcome the current limitations of the human body through natural or artificial means...
is left to the individual preferences of parent
Parent
A parent is a caretaker of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is of a child . Children can have one or more parents, but they must have two biological parents. Biological parents consist of the male who sired the child and the female who gave birth to the child...
s acting as consumer
Consumer
Consumer is a broad label for any individuals or households that use goods generated within the economy. The concept of a consumer occurs in different contexts, so that the usage and significance of the term may vary.-Economics and marketing:...
s, rather than the public health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
policies of the state
State (polity)
A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
.
History
The term "liberal eugenics" does not necessarily indicate that its proponents are social liberalsSocial liberalism
Social liberalism is the belief that liberalism should include social justice. It differs from classical liberalism in that it believes the legitimate role of the state includes addressing economic and social issues such as unemployment, health care, and education while simultaneously expanding...
in the modern sense. The term refers to any ideology of eugenics
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
which is inspired by an underlying liberal theory but also to differentiate it from the authoritarian state eugenic programs of the first half of the 20th century, which were associated with coercive methods to decrease the frequency of certain human hereditary traits
Trait (biology)
A trait is a distinct variant of a phenotypic character of an organism that may be inherited, environmentally determined or be a combination of the two...
passed on to the next generation. The most controversial aspect of those programs was the use of "negative" eugenics laws which allowed government agencies to sterilize individuals alleged to have undesirable gene
Gene
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
s.
Historically, eugenics is often broken into the categories of positive (encouraging reproduction in the designated "fit
Physical fitness
Physical fitness comprises two related concepts: general fitness , and specific fitness...
") and negative (discouraging reproduction in the designated "unfit"). Many positive eugenic programs were advocated and pursued during the early 20th century, but the negative programs were responsible for the compulsory sterilization
Compulsory sterilization
Compulsory sterilization also known as forced sterilization programs are government policies which attempt to force people to undergo surgical sterilization...
of hundreds of thousands of persons in many countries, and were contained in much of the rhetoric of Nazi eugenic policies of racial hygiene
Racial hygiene
Racial hygiene was a set of early twentieth century state sanctioned policies by which certain groups of individuals were allowed to procreate and others not, with the expressed purpose of promoting certain characteristics deemed to be particularly desirable...
and genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
.
Liberal eugenics is conceived to be mostly "positive", relying more on reprogenetics
Reprogenetics
Reprogenetics is a term referring to the merging of reproductive and genetic technologies expected to happen in the near future as techniques like germinal choice technology become more available and more powerful. The term was coined by Lee M...
than on selective breeding
Selective breeding
Selective breeding is the process of breeding plants and animals for particular genetic traits. Typically, strains that are selectively bred are domesticated, and the breeding is sometimes done by a professional breeder. Bred animals are known as breeds, while bred plants are known as varieties,...
charts to achieve its aims. It seeks to both minimize congenital disorder
Congenital disorder
A congenital disorder, or congenital disease, is a condition existing at birth and often before birth, or that develops during the first month of life , regardless of causation...
s and enhance capacity, traditional eugenic goals. It is intended to be under the control of the parents exercising their procreative liberty while guided by the principle of procreative beneficence
Procreative beneficence
Procreative beneficence is the moral obligation of parents to have the healthiest children through all natural and artificial means available.The term was coined by Julian Savulescu, a professor of applied ethics at St Cross College in Oxford.-See also:...
, though the substantial governmental and corporate infrastructure required for reprogenetics may limit or steer their actual choices.
Because of its reliance on new reprogenetic technologies, liberal eugenics is often referred to as "new eugenics", "neo-eugenics" or "techno-eugenics". However, these terms may be misleading since current or future authoritarian eugenic programs do or could also rely on these new biotechnologies.
Eugenicist Frederick Osborn
Frederick Osborn
Major General Frederick Henry Osborn was an American philanthropist, military leader, and eugenicist. He was a founder of several organizations, and played a central part in reorienting eugenics in the years following World War II away from the race- and class-consciousness from earlier periods...
laid the intellectual groundwork for liberal eugenics as early as the 1930s when he was the director of the Carnegie Institution for Science
Carnegie Institution for Science
The Carnegie Institution for Science is an organization in the United States established to support scientific research....
. Osborn argued that the public would never accept eugenics under militarized directives; rather, time must be allowed for "eugenic consciousness" to develop in the population. Accordingly, eugenic consciousness did not have to be aggressively and intentionally micro-manufactured; instead, it would develop as an emergent property as capitalist economy increased in complexity.
Osborn argued that all that was needed was to simply wait until a specific set of social structures (a consumer economy
Consumer economy
A consumer economy describes an economy driven by consumer spending as a percent of its gross domestic product, as opposed to the other major components of GDP ....
and the nuclear family
Nuclear family
Nuclear family is a term used to define a family group consisting of a father and mother and their children. This is in contrast to the smaller single-parent family, and to the larger extended family. Nuclear families typically center on a married couple, but not always; the nuclear family may have...
) developed to a point of dominance within capitalist culture. Once these structures matured, people would act eugenically without a second thought. Eugenic activity, instead of being an immediately identifiable, repugnant
Wisdom of repugnance
The wisdom of repugnance, or the yuck factor,is the belief that an intuitive negative response to some thing, idea or practice should be interpreted as evidence for the intrinsically harmful or evil character of that thing...
activity, would become one of the invisible taken-for-granted activities of everyday life (much like getting a vaccination
Vaccination
Vaccination is the administration of antigenic material to stimulate the immune system of an individual to develop adaptive immunity to a disease. Vaccines can prevent or ameliorate the effects of infection by many pathogens...
).
Bioethicist Joseph Fletcher
Joseph Fletcher
Joseph Fletcher was an American professor who founded the theory of situational ethics in the 1960s, and was a pioneer in the field of bioethics. Fletcher was a leading academic involved in the topics of abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, eugenics, and cloning. Ordained as an Episcopal priest, he...
greatly contributed to liberal eugenic thought in 1974 when he described an alternative to "reproductive roulette
Roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after a French diminutive for little wheel. In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number or a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even....
". A key goal of liberal eugenics would thus be to reduce the role of chance in reproduction. His visions soon became a reality when effective human in vitro fertilisation
In vitro fertilisation
In vitro fertilisation is a process by which egg cells are fertilised by sperm outside the body: in vitro. IVF is a major treatment in infertility when other methods of assisted reproductive technology have failed...
became possible in 1978. Modern interest in liberal eugenics is believed to have increased ever since. Currently, genetic testing
Genetic testing
Genetic testing is among the newest and most sophisticated of techniques used to test for genetic disorders which involves direct examination of the DNA molecule itself. Other genetic tests include biochemical tests for such gene products as enzymes and other proteins and for microscopic...
such as preimplantation genetic diagnosis
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis
In medicine and genetics pre-implantation genetic diagnosis refers to procedures that are performed on embryos prior to implantation, sometimes even on oocytes prior to fertilization. PGD is considered another way to prenatal diagnosis...
, have been developed to allow for embryo
Embryo
An embryo is a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, hatching, or germination...
s carrying congenital disorder
Congenital disorder
A congenital disorder, or congenital disease, is a condition existing at birth and often before birth, or that develops during the first month of life , regardless of causation...
s to be discarded.
Illiberality
Dov Fox, a Rhodes Scholar studying political theory at the University of OxfordUniversity of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, argues that liberal eugenics cannot be justified on the basis of the underlying liberal theory
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
which inspires it. He introduces an alternative to John Rawls
John Rawls
John Bordley Rawls was an American philosopher and a leading figure in moral and political philosophy. He held the James Bryant Conant University Professorship at Harvard University....
's social primary goods that might be called natural primary goods: hereditable mental and physical capacities and dispositions that are valued across a range of projects and pursuits. He suggests that reprogenetic technologies like embryo selection, cellular surgery, and human genetic engineering
Human genetic engineering
Human genetic engineering is the alteration of an individual's genotype with the aim of choosing the phenotype of a newborn or changing the existing phenotype of a child or adult....
, which aim to enhance "general purpose" traits in offspring are less like childrearing practices a liberal government leaves to the discretion of parents than like practices the state
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
makes compulsory.
Fox argues that if the liberal commitment to autonomy
Autonomy
Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...
is important enough for the state to mandate childrearing practices such as health care and basic education, that very same interest is important enough for the state to mandate safe, effective, and functionally integrated genetic practices that act on analogous all-purpose traits such as resistance to disease and general cognitive functioning. He concludes that the liberal case for compulsory eugenics is a reductio against liberal theory.
According to health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
public policy analyst RJ Eskow, "libertarian
Libertarian
Libertarian may refer to:*A proponent of libertarianism, a political philosophy that upholds individual liberty, especially freedom of expression and action*A member of a libertarian political party; including:**Libertarian Party...
eugenics" is the term that would more accurately describe the form of eugenics promoted by some notable proponents of liberal eugenics, in light of their strong opposition to even minimal state intervention in eugenic family planning
Family planning
Family planning is the planning of when to have children, and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other techniques commonly used include sexuality education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and...
, which would be expected of a social liberal
Social liberalism
Social liberalism is the belief that liberalism should include social justice. It differs from classical liberalism in that it believes the legitimate role of the state includes addressing economic and social issues such as unemployment, health care, and education while simultaneously expanding...
state that assumes some responsibility for the welfare
Welfare state
A welfare state is a "concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those...
of its future citizens.
Consumer capitalism and economic inequality
Both bioconservative and technoprogressive critics of liberal eugenics are concerned that consumer demand for reprogenetics may be created and manipulated, in a deliberate and coordinated way, on a very large scale, through mass-marketing techniques, to the advantage of corporate interests while having an adverse effect on society in general. Intertwined with the issue of "genism", they have focused on its likely socioeconomic consequences in societies in which divisions between rich and poor are on the riseEconomic inequality
Economic inequality comprises all disparities in the distribution of economic assets and income. The term typically refers to inequality among individuals and groups within a society, but can also refer to inequality among countries. The issue of economic inequality is related to the ideas of...
.
Bill McKibben
Bill McKibben
William Ernest "Bill" McKibben is an American environmentalist, author, and journalist who has written extensively on the impact of global warming. He is the Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College...
, for example, suggests that emerging reprogenetic technologies would be disproportionately available to those with greater financial resources, thereby exacerbating the gap between rich and poor and creating a "genetic divide". Lee M. Silver
Lee M. Silver
Lee M. Silver is a professor at Princeton University in the Department of molecular biology of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs...
, a biologist and science writer who coined the term "reprogenetics" and supports its applications, has nonetheless expressed concern that these methods could create a two-tiered society of genetically-engineered "haves" and "have nots" if social democratic reforms
Social safety net
Social safety nets, or "socioeconomic safety nets", are non-contributory transfer programs seeking to prevent the poor or those vulnerable to shocks and poverty from falling below a certain poverty level. Safety net programs can be provided by the public sector or by the private sector...
lag behind implementation of reprogenetic technologies.
Further reading
- Appel, Jacob M. Mandatory Genetic Testing isn't Eugenics, it's Smart Science. Retrieved on 2009-03-05.
- Hauskeller, Michael. Philosophical Review of Nicholas Agar's Liberal Eugenics: In Defence of Human Enhancement. Retrieved on 2008-08-03.
- Mitchell, Ben C.; Hook, C. Christopher. State-sponsored Liberal Eugenics Has Just Begun. Retrieved on 2008-08-03
- Hari, Johann. Why I support liberal eugenics. Retrieved on 2008-08-03
- Kanamori, Osamu. Relief and Shadow of New Liberal Eugenics. Retrieved on 2008-08-03
- David, PearceDavid Pearce (philosopher)David Pearce is a British utilitarian thinker. He believes and promotes the idea that there exists a strong ethical imperative for humans to work towards the abolition of suffering in all sentient life. His book-length internet manifesto The Hedonistic Imperative details how he believes the...
"Liberal Eugenics?". Retrieved on 2010-6-27 - Lynn, RichardRichard LynnRichard Lynn is a British Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Ulster who is known for his views on racial and ethnic differences. Lynn argues that there are hereditary differences in intelligence based on race and sex....
, Eugenics: a reassessment, 2001, Greenwood Publishing Group.