Recent developments in biotechnology and genetic research are
raising complex ethical questions concerning the legitimate scope
and limits of genetic intervention. As we begin to contemplate the
possibility of intervening in the human genome to prevent diseases,
we cannot help but feel that the human species might soon be able
to take its biological evolution in its own hands. 'Playing God' is
the metaphor commonly used for this self-transformation of the
species, which, it seems, might soon be within our grasp.
In this important new book, Jurgen Habermas - the most
influential philosopher and social thinker in Germany today - takes
up the question of genetic engineering and its ethical implications
and subjects it to careful philosophical scrutiny. His analysis is
guided by the view that genetic manipulation is bound up with the
identity and self-understanding of the species. We cannot rule out
the possibility that knowledge of one's own hereditary factors may
prove to be restrictive for the choice of an individual's way of
life and may undermine the symmetrical relations between free and
equal human beings.
In the concluding chapter - which was delivered as a lecture on
receiving the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade for 2001 -
Habermas broadens the discussion to examine the tension between
science and religion in the modern world, a tension which exploded,
with such tragic violence, on September 11th.
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