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Defending the de dicto approach to the non-identity problem
Is it wrong to create a blind child, for example by in vitro fertilization, if you could create a sighted child instead? Intuitively many people believe it is wrong, but this belief is difficult to justify. When there is a possibility to create and select either ‘blind’ or ‘sighted’ embryos choosing...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Springer International Publishing
2023
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10654157/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37358739 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40592-023-00177-9 |
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author | Räsänen, Joona |
author_facet | Räsänen, Joona |
author_sort | Räsänen, Joona |
collection | PubMed |
description | Is it wrong to create a blind child, for example by in vitro fertilization, if you could create a sighted child instead? Intuitively many people believe it is wrong, but this belief is difficult to justify. When there is a possibility to create and select either ‘blind’ or ‘sighted’ embryos choosing a set of ‘blind’ embryos seems to harm no-one since choosing ‘sighted’ embryos would create a different child altogether. So when the parents choose ‘blind’ embryos, they give some specific individual a life that is the only option for her. Because her life is worth living (as blind peoples’ lives are), the parents have not wronged the child by creating her. This is the reasoning behind the famous non-identity problem. I suggest that the non-identity problem is based on a misunderstanding. I claim that when choosing a ‘blind’ embryo, prospective parents harm ‘their child’, whoever she or he will be. Put another way: parents harm their child in the de dicto sense and that is morally wrong. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10654157 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Springer International Publishing |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-106541572023-06-26 Defending the de dicto approach to the non-identity problem Räsänen, Joona Monash Bioeth Rev Original Article Is it wrong to create a blind child, for example by in vitro fertilization, if you could create a sighted child instead? Intuitively many people believe it is wrong, but this belief is difficult to justify. When there is a possibility to create and select either ‘blind’ or ‘sighted’ embryos choosing a set of ‘blind’ embryos seems to harm no-one since choosing ‘sighted’ embryos would create a different child altogether. So when the parents choose ‘blind’ embryos, they give some specific individual a life that is the only option for her. Because her life is worth living (as blind peoples’ lives are), the parents have not wronged the child by creating her. This is the reasoning behind the famous non-identity problem. I suggest that the non-identity problem is based on a misunderstanding. I claim that when choosing a ‘blind’ embryo, prospective parents harm ‘their child’, whoever she or he will be. Put another way: parents harm their child in the de dicto sense and that is morally wrong. Springer International Publishing 2023-06-26 2023 /pmc/articles/PMC10654157/ /pubmed/37358739 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40592-023-00177-9 Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Original Article Räsänen, Joona Defending the de dicto approach to the non-identity problem |
title | Defending the de dicto approach to the non-identity problem |
title_full | Defending the de dicto approach to the non-identity problem |
title_fullStr | Defending the de dicto approach to the non-identity problem |
title_full_unstemmed | Defending the de dicto approach to the non-identity problem |
title_short | Defending the de dicto approach to the non-identity problem |
title_sort | defending the de dicto approach to the non-identity problem |
topic | Original Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10654157/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37358739 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40592-023-00177-9 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT rasanenjoona defendingthededictoapproachtothenonidentityproblem |