Inquiring into Human Enhancement [recurso electrónico] : Interdisciplinary and International Perspectives

Human enhancement has become a major concern in debates about the future of contemporary societies. This interdisciplinary book is devoted to clarifying the underlying ambiguities of these debates, and to proposing novel ways of exploring what human enhancement means and understanding what practices, goals and justifications it entails. Front Matter....Pages i-xvi Introduction....Pages 1-16 Front Matter....Pages 17-17 The Concept and Practices of Human Enhancement: What Is at Stake?....Pages 19-37 Enhancement: Why We Should Distinguish Anthropotechnics from Medicine....Pages 38-59 Why Do We Wish to be Enhanced?....Pages 60-85 The Moral Ambiguity of Human Enhancement....Pages 86-99 Front Matter....Pages 101-101 A Scale and a Paradigmatic Framework for Human Enhancement....Pages 103-118 From Repair to Enhancement: The Use of Technical Aids in the Field of Disability....Pages 119-137 Brain–Machine Interface (BMI) as a Tool for Understanding Human–Machine Cooperation....Pages 138-160 Doping Behaviour as an Indicator of Performance Pressure....Pages 161-180 Front Matter....Pages 181-181 The Earth as Our Footstool: Visions of Human Enhancement in 19th and 20th Century Britain....Pages 183-204 Transcendental Medicine versus the ‘Prisonhouse of the Flesh’: Enhancement in R.L. Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....Pages 205-228 Biotechnology and the Future of Sport: A Scenario....Pages 229-252 Adaptation and Emortality: Human Enhancement in Tales of the Biotech Revolution....Pages 253-269 Back Matter....Pages 271-278 "What is human enhancement all about? Why has it become a major concern in debates about the future of contemporary societies? This book is devoted to clarifying the underlying ambiguities of these major debates. It proposes novel ways of exploring what human enhancement means, what practices and technologies are involved, and what goals are invoked, with their respective justifications and criticisms. It calls on contributors from different countries and backgrounds - sociology, philosophy, bioethics, political science, engineering, medicine, literary studies, science fiction - to examine three fundamental aspects of human technological enhancement. Firstly, what the concept of human enhancement means; secondly, what practices constitute human enhancement today; and, thirdly, what it might become in the future"-- Provided by publisher This book explores issues raised by past and present practices of animal enhancement in terms of their means and their goals, clarifies conceptual issues and identifies lessons that can be learned about enhancement practices, as they concern both animals and humans.