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Synthetic Biology: Old and New Dilemmas—The Case of Artificial Life

This article aims to examine some of the ethical questions emerging from the use of already existing biotechnological tools and the issues which might occur by synthetic biology’s potential future possibilities. In the first part, the essence of synthetic biology and its relation to the contemporary...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kolisis, Nikolaos, Kolisis, Fragiskos
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9245477/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35822770
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biotech10030016
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author Kolisis, Nikolaos
Kolisis, Fragiskos
author_facet Kolisis, Nikolaos
Kolisis, Fragiskos
author_sort Kolisis, Nikolaos
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description This article aims to examine some of the ethical questions emerging from the use of already existing biotechnological tools and the issues which might occur by synthetic biology’s potential future possibilities. In the first part, the essence of synthetic biology and its relation to the contemporary biotechnological research is analyzed. In the second part, the article examines whether the new biotechnological inventions pose new or revive old moral questions about the ethics of science, engineering, and technology in general. After briefly addressing some of the various issues which are raised by experts, philosophers, but also the general public, concerning synthetic biology in general, it focuses on the topic of “artificial life creation” and presents moral reasons which may or may not allow it. The topic is approached by referring to consequentialist, deontological, but also, virtue theory arguments for and against it and the possibility of a partial permission of “artificial life” experiments, asking whether the benefits outweigh the risks and moral implications is explored. Finally, it proposes an argument in favor of the future exploration of biological innovation, underlying the need for a more balanced access to its beneficial results.
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spelling pubmed-92454772022-07-06 Synthetic Biology: Old and New Dilemmas—The Case of Artificial Life Kolisis, Nikolaos Kolisis, Fragiskos BioTech (Basel) Article This article aims to examine some of the ethical questions emerging from the use of already existing biotechnological tools and the issues which might occur by synthetic biology’s potential future possibilities. In the first part, the essence of synthetic biology and its relation to the contemporary biotechnological research is analyzed. In the second part, the article examines whether the new biotechnological inventions pose new or revive old moral questions about the ethics of science, engineering, and technology in general. After briefly addressing some of the various issues which are raised by experts, philosophers, but also the general public, concerning synthetic biology in general, it focuses on the topic of “artificial life creation” and presents moral reasons which may or may not allow it. The topic is approached by referring to consequentialist, deontological, but also, virtue theory arguments for and against it and the possibility of a partial permission of “artificial life” experiments, asking whether the benefits outweigh the risks and moral implications is explored. Finally, it proposes an argument in favor of the future exploration of biological innovation, underlying the need for a more balanced access to its beneficial results. MDPI 2021-07-20 /pmc/articles/PMC9245477/ /pubmed/35822770 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biotech10030016 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Kolisis, Nikolaos
Kolisis, Fragiskos
Synthetic Biology: Old and New Dilemmas—The Case of Artificial Life
title Synthetic Biology: Old and New Dilemmas—The Case of Artificial Life
title_full Synthetic Biology: Old and New Dilemmas—The Case of Artificial Life
title_fullStr Synthetic Biology: Old and New Dilemmas—The Case of Artificial Life
title_full_unstemmed Synthetic Biology: Old and New Dilemmas—The Case of Artificial Life
title_short Synthetic Biology: Old and New Dilemmas—The Case of Artificial Life
title_sort synthetic biology: old and new dilemmas—the case of artificial life
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9245477/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35822770
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biotech10030016
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