Chapter 6 Flashcards
What is Huntingtons Disease?
A disease that occurs from a signal genetic mutation, and is responsible for causing an inevitable sickness that makes the patient go through a long, agonizing death
Who wrote “two kinds of eugenics”?
Nicholas Agar
What are the two types of eugenics outlined in “two kinds of eugenics”?
authoritarian and liberal
what is meant by liberal eugenics?
the parents are the decision makers and can decide to implement whatever traits they wish their child to have
what are the two kinds of voluntary eugenics?
laissez fare eugenics and Utopian eugenics
define laissez fare eugenics
allows individuals to decide what to test, when, and what to do about it
what is wrong with laissez fare eugenics
Has to know ethical boundaries, very subjective. people could use it to abort the baby girl if they wanted a boy, or if they wanted an athletic child, or the child had the obesity gene
define utopian genetics
- balance between freedom,scientific knowledge, and social conditions
- citizens educated but not forced
- available to all
what is pre-symptomatic testing
the ability to test genes for diseases before the disease manifests itself
why would some people want “no to know’ that they have a terminal disease that will manifest itself?
there is a big difference between knowing you have a disease and thinking you have a disease. Knowing you will die at a certain time is disconcerting
what is the argument for knowing?
knowing will prevent you from having offspring that will have the same disease
knowing when you will die allows you to plan your life accordingly
What is a big ethical gap in genetic testing?
the difference between detecting a problem in the genome and then being able to treat it
define somatic gene therapy
inserting a corrected copy of a mutated gene into the cells of the patients body
define germ line therapy
the corrections to mutated genes are made in the sperm and the egg before they merge, preventing any bad genetics getting passed to the child
what is an objection to germ line therapy
the limited understanding of gene interaction and accidentally screwing things up
what are concerns of selective aborting?
- the woman may be coerced into taking tests that show that “fail” the baby, and she would feel pressured to abort
- judgments mixed on what classes life as valuable
what is a problem with all the prenatal and womens choice?
they can feel forced to take tests, and then feel forced to terminate a baby that isnt “perfect”
what is an argument against human cloning?
Many people feel repulsed by giving birth to exact copies of themselves or dead parents
What are 2 arguments for human cloning
clones will not be zombie like drones, but fully functional human beings, they would follow normal lives 2. they are just an extension of current reproductive tech
what is an argument against human cloning from the clones perspective
An expectation that they will perform at the standards of the person they were copied from, there destiny is “set in stone”
Who isolated the HD gene?
Nancy Wexler
according to Putnam, what is the task of a good parent?
to prepare a child for autonomy
How can utility respond to genetic manipulation to produce better offspring?
It cant. On one hand, it says that we should strive to achieve max happiness, allowing us to manipulate genes to make people more happy, but having everyone at max happiness is absurd. so they have to keep quiet
How does kantian theory respond to genetic manipulation to bring about viable offspring
they are silent too. They have to think about engineering children to be more rational, but what about engineering people while they are embryos so that they are very dumb and can be slaves, but since they are dumb they dont reach the rational level
What does virtue ethics say about genetically manipulating babies?
unhelpful, because it connects action to emotion, and both of those to human character.
What is an advantage of germ-line therapy from an ethical standpoint?
it involves treatments on the not yet living, so no worries about autonomy of the baby
what is prenatal testing?
screening for abnormalities in the fetus
what are three negatives of enhancement technologies in babies
Trying to control you child’s future
Children could parents responsible for deficiencies in life
Deprives child’s autonomy
Who was responsible for the cloning of the sheep dolly?
Dr. Ian Wilmut
What is a troublesome aspect of embryo cloning?
Raising one child to donate organs or tissue for the sole benefit of another child
