Beyond the debate
Description
In this thesis, I expand upon the cautionary urges to progress past the enhancement debate, adding the notion that we must begin constructing the preliminary steps for approving safe and effective enhancements using the expertise of ethicists, researchers, policymakers, and clinicians (Buchanan, 2011). I examine Andy Miah's enhancement continuum and apply it to a number of the numerous facets that must be considered during the enhancement process of review, including how we must prioritize types of enhancement in research and healthcare settings and begin determining which ethical values we should maintain when constructing guidelines for enhancements. During the process of review, I propose intersecting values such as freedom and autonomy, fairness and equity, societal disruption, human dignity, the good life, rights, obligations, policy, and law with individual, professional, and societal concerns. These values can serve as a standard for each step in the process of review, from the preclinical ethical deliberations to the discretionary execution of the medical practitioner. Briefly mentioned is how designer babies, or pre-implantation genetic engineering and human germline enhancement, may fit into this proposed framework. Ultimately, I find that designer babies engineered for non-therapeutic reasons significantly dismantle autonomy values, and that non-therapeutic enhancement should be limited to individuals capable of informed consent.