Enhancement Thomas H Murray reading

Question 1

What is a good way to begin the search for clarity?

Answer 1

To ask what sort of work the concept does, and how well it performs the task for which it is recruited

Question 2

What are the two distinct conversations of bioethics according to Eric Juengst

Answer 2

The two distinct conversations in bioethics according to Eric Juengst are one on the limits of biomedicine, and the other on the ethics of self-improvement.

Question 3

What is Erik Parens contribution to the enhancement of bioethics

Answer 3

providing the notion of two overlapping but distinct conversations.

Question 4

How does the concept of enhancement function as a moral boundary

Answer 4

The concept of enhancement functions as a moral boundary by defining what is ethically acceptable in terms of self-improvement and what is not.

Question 5

What is the difference between enhancement and medically indicated treatment

Answer 5

Enhancement refers to interventions that are not ethically obligated to be provided by health professionals, whereas medically indicated treatment is a therapeutic intervention that is required by their professional moral obligations to patients.

Question 6

How can enhancement be used as a boundary marker in healthcare

Answer 6

Enhancement can be used as a conceptual cap for healthcare institutions, which may not be ethically obligated to provide enhancement services such as cosmetic surgery or botox injections. This can also be used by government agencies and private insurers to set boundaries on what types of treatments or services they will pay for.

Question 7

What is the test proposed by Juengst to distinguish enhancement from the proper range of medicines concerns

Answer 7

If criteria drawn from other spheres of experience seem like better measures of improvement than medical measures, then the intervention in question should probably count as an enhancement that goes beyond medicine’s domain of expertise.

Question 8

What does the concept of enhancement act like according to juengst

Answer 8

The concept of enhancement acts like a moral signpost warning that we are approaching unsettled moral territory

Question 9

True or False: All enhancements considered ethically permissible

Answer 9

False, calling something an enhancement tells us little about what our moral attitude toward the intervention should be

Question 10

True or False: Non-biomedical means of enhancement for children be considered important moral obligations for rearing adults

Answer 10

True, certain enhancements, such as education, training in the moral virtues, and immunization against infectious diseases, are not only good but may may be important moral obligations of rearing adults to the children for whom they are responsible

Question 11

What are the three difficulties with assuming that for biomedical interventions the key distinction is between enhancement and therapy

Answer 11

1. in an important sense all therapy can be understood as enhancement
2. there are a set of biomedical interventions that aim unequivocally at health, yet
   are just as clearly a form of enhancement (vaccines)
3. some biomedical interventions, operating through the same physiological pathways, occupy a continuum between what appears to be a clearly ‘therapeutic’ application and an outright and
   unabashed pursuit of enhancement. (HGH)

Question 12

True or False: A drug that relieves the suffering of people with clinical depression is a valuable therapy

Answer 12

True

Question 13

What is the definition of enhancement

Answer 13

to increase the worth or value of something, and for a change to be considered an enhancement, it must serve some human end or value.

Question 14

Why do people suffering from chronic anemia and athletes seeking to enhance their performance use different means to increase the number of red blood cells?

Answer 14

To restore health, therefore more likely to use EPO,
Athletes to enhance performance have many means at their disposal, such as relentless preparation, sleeping in high-altitude environments, or taking EPO, to increase the number of red cells.

Question 15

Why do parents seek hGH for their children of average stature and why is this a contentious issue

Answer 15

Parents of children of average stature may seek hGH to increase their height because they believe that being taller confers advantages, such as better job prospects, social status, and relationships. However, in a world where heightism did not exist and height did not matter, this would be unjustified.

Question 16

Why do parents of very short children seek to use hGH

Answer 16

Parents of very short children seek to use growth hormone because they believe that their children’s lives may be easier if they were taller

Question 17

What are the 5 Arguments for embracing biomedical enhancement and explain each one

Answer 17

1. incoherency argument- claim that there is no rational basis for distinguishing between acceptable and unacceptable means of enhancement- one implicit premise is that no ethical distinction can survive unless it is based upon a coherent conceptual distinction
   2.the line drawing objection- we can see differences between the ends of the spectrum, but it insists that drawing a line anywhere on that contemn is unavoidably arbitrary and therefore indefensible
2. the argument of liberty-people should be free to choose whatever ends they value and whatever means they want to reach those ends
   4.resistance is futile- claim is based on some notion of historical inevitability: boundaries were shattered in the past, therefore boundaries will fall in the future
   5 Heroic, romantic or promethan-people should shape themselves, Willful self‐design, from this perspective, is a distinctly human enterprise and therefore to be valued for
   its own sake. We are meant to be self‐makers.

Question 18

What are the three ways if thinking about the relationship of human nature to the ethics of enhancement

Answer 18

1. raw material
2. contours of the given
3. normative guide

Question 19

What is the romantic-promethean view of humans and their nature

Answer 19

considers human nature as raw material to be molded as we desire, with the exception of the ability to intend coupled with the skill to remake ourselves according to our own designs.

Question 20

According to the human nature as contours of the given view, what are the three ways in which it differs from the romantic-Promethean view?

Answer 20

1. it does not assume that human nature is limitlessly manipulable
2. it does not elevate human willfulness and technical skill over all other human capacities
3. it suggests modesty in deciding which alterations are desirable

Question 21

Why is it necessary to defend certain aspects of human nature against deliberate redesign

Answer 21

it is necessary to defend certain aspects of human nature against deliberate redesign if there is something inherently good or dignified about them, such as natural procreation, the human life cycle, and human erotic longing and striving.

Question 22

What is the argument presented in beyond therapy about the relationship between human nature and the ethics of enhancement

Answer 22

According to Beyond Therapy, the central assumption is that human nature can serve as a normative guide through the ethics of enhancement. Only if there is a human givenness or a given humanness that is inherently good and worth respecting, will the given serve as a positive guide for choosing what to alter and what to leave alone. The report suggests that only then can we begin to see why those aspects of our nature need to be defended against our deliberate redesign.

Question 23

True or False: In conclusion, no single ethical principle or distinction can be reliable guide through this complex issue

Answer 23

True

Question 24

Why is the concept of natural not a reliable guide in the ethics of enhancement

Answer 24

The concept of natural takes us only so far, and accounts of the ethics of enhancement that rely on human nature as a positive guide either encounter unsolvable puzzles or dissolve into incomprehensible vagueness.