Why am I passionate about this?
I'm a philosopher with a specialization in bioethics. My work is at the intersection of policy and practice. It is grounded in a deep commitment to public education, engagement, and empowerment, as well as a strong desire to âmake the powerful care.â I maintain that âthe human genome belongs to us all. Itâs something we have in common, and so we all have the right to have a say.â I believe the pivotal question that we all need to ask is âWhat kind of world do we want to live in?â Once we have an answer to this question, we can meaningfully address the more pointed question, âWill CRISPR technology help us build that world?â
Françoise's book list on genetic engineering and designer babies
Why did Françoise love this book?
Somewhat paradoxically, this treatise against genetic enhancement starts with the case of a deaf couple who want to have a deaf child.
This is a case I often discuss in exploring the difference between disease, disability, and diversity. Following on from this case description, Sandel asks, âIs it wrong to make a child deaf by design?â And what if the desired trait was not deafness but height, athletic prowess, health, or intelligence, and the aim was to gain a competitive advantage?
Would your answer be the same? In the pages that follow, Sandel builds a case against âreengineering our natureâ grounded in an ethic of giftedness (i.e., a reverence for life as a gift).
He eschews the drive to mastery and insists that â[t]o appreciate children as gifts is to accept them as they come, not as objects of our design, or products of our will, or instruments of ourâŚ
1 author picked The Case against Perfection as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
"Sandel explores a paramount question of our era: how to extend the power and promise of biomedical science to overcome debility without compromising our humanity. His arguments are acute and penetrating, melding sound logic with compassion."
-Jerome Groopman, author of How Doctors Think
Breakthroughs in genetics present us with a promise and a predicament. The promise is that we will soon be able to treat and prevent a host of debilitating diseases. The predicament is that our newfound genetic knowledge may enable us to manipulate our nature-to enhance our genetic traits and those of our children. Although most people findâŚ