TRANSCENDENCE: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS OF ENHANCEMENT TECHNOLOGIES SEAN ELI MCCORMICK Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies, Philosophy, and Classical & Medieval Studies Cleveland State University May 2014 submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS IN PHILOSOPHY at the CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY May 2016 ©COPYRIGHT BY SEAN ELI MCCORMICK 2016 We hereby approve this thesis for SEAN ELI MCCORMICK Candidate for the MASTER OF ARTS in PHILOSOPHY degree for the Department of Philosophy and Comparative Religion and CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY’S College of Graduate Studies by Dr. Allyson L. Robichaud, Committee Chair Department & Date Dr. Sonya Charles, Committee Member Department & Date Dr. Linda E. Francis, Committee Member Department & Date Student’s Date of Defense: Friday, April 29, 2016 TRANSCENDENCE: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS OF ENHANCEMENT TECHNOLOGIES SEAN ELI MCCORMICK ABSTRACT New technologies are being made available to the general public that have the capability of enhancing the physical and cognitive capacities and the genetic structures of humans. These human enhancement technologies (HETs) have the potential to alter what it means to be human and to have wide-ranging effects on society. This study seeks to analyze these technologies and explore the ethical problems associated with them. To these ends, this study examines three questions raised by the introduction of these technologies: 1) does the usage of HETs corrupt or otherwise devalue human nature? 2) do HETs, on average, promote the goods of individuals and of societies? 3) what constitutes a just distribution of HETs? Part I attempts to synthesize a holistic conception of human nature utilizing elements from philosophical, theological, and scientific conceptions. Part II takes this holistic conception forward to analyze the utility of certain prosthetic, cognitive, and genetic enhancements. Part II also attempts to outline a just distribution of HETs based on overall social utility. This study concludes that a physical reductionist conception of human nature synthesized with certain conceptions of human flourishing would find particular HETs advantageous to personal and social goods. Those HETs which, on average, promote these goods should be developed and distributed to the general public. Societies beset with scarcity issues should ensure that basic necessities remain a priority before the distribution of enhancements is considered. Social policy analysts and legislators also need to ensure that the distribution of HETs does not exacerbate the widening socio-economic divide between wealthier social classes and the impoverished. Instead, HETs should be distributed to promote the net good of individuals within a particular society. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... iv INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................1 PART I – CONCEPTIONS OF HUMAN NATURE ......................................................5 CHAPTER I – PHILOSOPHICAL CONCEPTIONS ...................................................10 Essentialism: Platonic and Aristotelian Conceptions of Human Nature ....................10 Reason and Morality: A Kantian Theory of Human Nature ......................................24 Humans as Social Creatures: A Marxist Theory of Human Nature ...........................31 Existentialism and Radical Freedom: A Sartrean Theory of Human Nature .............37 Philosophical Summary ..............................................................................................43 CHAPTER II – THEOLOGICAL CONCEPTIONS .....................................................46 A Judeo-Christian Conception of Human Nature ......................................................48 Eastern Theological Conceptions of Human Nature ..................................................58 Confucianism .........................................................................................................59 Taoism....................................................................................................................66 Hinduism ................................................................................................................70 Theological Summary ................................................................................................74 CHAPTER III – SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTIONS ...........................................................77 CHAPTER IV – TOWARDS A SYNTHESIS ..............................................................89 PART II – THE UTILITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF HETs ..................................108 CHAPTER V – UTILITY OF HUMAN ENHANCEMENT TECHNOLOGIES .......110 Prosthetic Enhancements ..........................................................................................116 Cognitive Enhancements ..........................................................................................125 Genetic Engineering .................................................................................................134 Concluding Remarks ................................................................................................146 CHAPTER VI – CONCEIVING A JUST DISTRIBUTION OF HETs ......................152 A Right to Human Enhancement Technologies? .....................................................153 A Utilitarian Distribution of Human Enhancement Technologies ...........................161 Concluding Remarks ................................................................................................167 CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................170 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..........................................................................................................172 v INTRODUCTION With roots spanning millennia, the ideal of transhumanism lays out a rubric by which humanity can shrug off the physical shackles of what it means to be biologically human. Originally drafted in 1998, the “Transhumanist Declaration” enumerates the futurist doctrine of the modern day transhumanist movement. The first and eighth dictates of the declaration are as follows: 1) Humanity stands to be profoundly affected by science and technology in the future. We envision the possibility of broadening human potential by overcoming aging, cognitive shortcomings, involuntary suffering, and our confinement to planet Earth [...] 8) We favour allowing individuals wide personal choice over how they enable their lives. This includes use of techniques that may be developed to assist memory, concentration, and mental energy; life extension therapies; reproductive choice technologies; cryonics procedures; and many other possible human modification and enhancement technologies.1 The declaration advocates the usage of various human enhancement technologies (HETs) in order to alter the biological and chemical makeup of humans for progressive, artificial development; the future evolution of the human race is put in the hands of humanity. Should these technologies be researched and implemented, humans are no longer bound by the constructs of natural evolution. This has conspicuous implications for what it means to be human 1 Humanity+ Board, “Transhumanist Declaration,” Humanity+ (March 2009), http://humanityplus.org/philosophy/transhumanist-declaration/ 1 and raises a number of philosophical, theological, and social policy issues. The aim of this study will be to answer three questions related to human enhancement technologies: 1) do enhancement technologies constitute a corruption of what it means to be human? 2) does the usage of enhancement technologies, on average, promote the good of humans individually and collectively? and 3) what constitutes a justifiable distribution of enhancement technologies? To answer these questions, the study will be divided into two main parts. Part I will provide an answer to the first question concerning human nature. To this effect, Part I will be divided into four chapters. Chapter I will focus on philosophical conceptions of human nature in the essentialist theories of Plato and Aristotle, the rational person theory of Kant, the social theory of Marx, and the conception of humans as radically free in Sartre’s atheistic existentialism. Chapter II will focus on theological conceptions of human nature embodied in the traditions of Judeo-Christianity, Confucianism, Taoism, and Hinduism. Chapter III will focus on scientific conceptions of human nature with special attention being given to 2 physicalism and Darwin’s evolutionary theory. Chapter IV will attempt to create a holistic conception of human nature by synthesizing parts from the preceding theories. Part II will provide answers to the second two questions concerning the utility of human enhancement technologies and their just distribution in relation to the holistic conception of human nature synthesized in Part I. To this effect, Part II will be divided into two chapters. Chapter V will focus on answering the second question by subjecting enhancement technologies to a utilitarian analysis. This chapter will be divided into three subsections focusing on prosthetic enhancements, cognitive enhancements, and genetic engineering. Chapter VI will focus on answering the third question. This chapter will be divided into two subsections. The first section will focus on rights theories concerning access