Choosing Children: Genes, Disability, and Design (Uehiro Series in Practical Ethics) [Hardcover]

Jonathan Glover (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 019929092X | ISBN-13: 978-0199290925 | Publication Date: March 30, 2006

Genetic and reproductive technology now offers us the possibility of choosing what kinds of children we do and don't have. Should we welcome this power, or should we fear its implications? The renowned moral philosopher and best-selling author Jonathan Glover suggests how we should try to deal with this urgent problem.

Surely parents owe it to their children to keep them free from disabilities? But there is a powerful new challenge from people who have these conditions: how do we justify trying to avoid bringing people like them into being? Jonathan Glover also examines the emotive idea of "eugenics," and the ethics of attempting to enhance people genetically for non-medical reasons. Should parents be free to choose, for instance, the color of their children's eyes or hair? What impact will such interventions have, both on the individuals concerned and on society as a whole?
This beautifully clear book is written for anyone who is concerned about our human future.

Editorial Reviews

Review

concise and engaging book...Glover's characteristically lucid reasoning and his use of powerful examples to cut through tangled and ideological debates shine through brightly here... Lively and very readable. Justin Oakley, Mind This short, readable book outlines with exemplary clarity the philosophical terms of the issue. Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times delightfully readable, insightful essays...Glover writes with enormous authority... a thoughtful and superbly written book BBC Focus Packed into Glover's little book is a lot of common sense...elegant summaries...fascinating themes. Madeline Bunting, Guardian Review This short book...should have wide appeal...Professor Glover writes in his engaging, highly accessible style..[giving] an uncommonly lucid and compelling presentation of views. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Volume 10

About the Author

Jonathan Glover is at King's College London.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (March 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019929092X
• ISBN-13: 978-0199290925
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,814,625 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Designing the Future, August 31, 2008

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This review is from: Choosing Children: Genes, Disability, and Design (Uehiro Series in Practical Ethics) (Paperback)

This short work of three chapters explores the implications of genetic science on the possibilities of designing our children to specifications. It covers the practical possibilities and the attendant moral decisions that apply to our decisions. Much of the discourse on this subject involves the question of what counts as "disabilities" and to what extent are we justified in producing children without them? Delving deeper, Glover asks the fundamental question, "To what do we owe our children?" On the surface, some decisions appear straightforward. If we know beforehand that our child is likely to be born with Down's syndrome, or blind, or deaf, should we not prevent the birth of that child? In answering "yes", are we not transferring our own perception of what happiness and enjoyment of life mean to us to that of the unborn child? Many have criticized the deaf lesbian couple who obtained the sperms of a male donor that ensured that their child was born deaf. The couple disputes the suggestion that being deaf was a disability. Many examples - blindness, etc were given and discussed. Glover also discusses the competing rights of parents and their children. The right of choice we give parents exposes the problem of what rights we ought to recognize in the children. It makes us wonder what rights are, and whether there are different levels of rights, entrenched rights, and inalienable rights, and who decides. It forces us to contemplate the diversity of human emotions and psychology that makes for true humanity. Human identity surely must allow for such diversity. Atheists, for example, may mount irrefutable rational arguments against the assertions of the existence of god; but would we be right to deny people the right to believe if that belief makes them happy and keeps them comforted? Ought we to apply the Kantian principle that people must not be used as a means? If so, can we justify having a second child so that we can use its bone marrow to save our first child from a fatal bone marrow disease? This is a profound book but short and extremely lucid. It points the way, and the reader may not agree with the author's own inclinations, but he must surely think for himself what grounds he has for choosing a different path.