Parsson and Săvulescu’s ”Unfit for the Future” or the Starting Point for the Deconstruction of the Concept of Parentality

Authors

  • Alexandra Huidu PhD Student, Doctoral School of Sociology, University of Oradea, Romania

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18662/po/63

Keywords:

motherhood, fatherhood, parentality, biomoral enhancement, procreative beneficence, Julian S?vulescu, Ingmar Persson.

Abstract

Recent sociological, philosophical, legal and bioethical literature has signaled the current family crisis under the impact of new reproductive technologies, but in this paper we will only focus on four of the most controversial practices: solo reproduction, cloning, artificial embryos, and genetic engineering for non-medical reasons. Starting from the ideas expressed by Ingmar Persson and Julian S?vulescu in the book, "Unfit for the Future. The Need for Moral Enhancement", as well as in a series of works by Julian S?vulescu, which have, as a common ground, the theory developed by him along with Persson in the above mentioned volume, we will argue that in the knowledge-based society, we have reached the point of transition from the postmodern family to a new type of family, in which the content of the concepts of maternity and paternity has changed, so that it has come to a point ehere principles that have managed to maintain their theoretical stability for more than 2,000 years seem inadequate, as is the case of mater semper certa est, pater incertus, which could be more realistically rephrased today by mater incerta est, pater non est necessarium.

Author Biography

Alexandra Huidu, PhD Student, Doctoral School of Sociology, University of Oradea, Romania

PhD Student, Doctoral School of Sociology, University of Oradea, Romania

References

Apostu, I. (2013). Consensual union in Romania. On the transition of social mentalities and legal postmodernism. În A. Sandu & A. Caras (Eds.), International Scientific Conference Tradition and reform. Social reconstruction of Europe (pp. 17-20). Bologna, Italia: Medimond.

Apostu, I. (2016). Postmodernity and the solidarity dilemma. A challenge for the contemporary couple. Postmodern Openings, VII(2), 9-12. doi:10.18662/po/2016.0702.01

Apostu, M. N., & Turliuc, M. N. (2017). Intimacy in Romanian couples. Implications for the psychological health of the family. Logos Universality Mentality Education Novelty: Social Sciences, 6(1), 63-72. doi:10.18662/lumenss.2017.0601.06

Bambrough, J. R. (1961). Universals and family resemblences. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 61, 207.

Cohen, G. I. (2014). What (if anything) is wrong with human enhancement? What (if anything) is right with it? Tulsa Law Review, 49(3), 645-687.

Cutaş, D. (2014). The ethics of solo reproduction. Panel prezentat în cadrul Conferinței ECPR General Conference. Glasgow, SUA: Universitatea din Glasgow.

Derrida, J. (1998). Of grammatology. Baltimore, SUA: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Despre hermafroditism [About hermaphroditism]. [2010, Martie 17]. Retrieved from http://argumentul-biologic.blogspot.com/2010/03/desprehermafroditism.html

Eco, U. (2017). Limitele interpretării [Limits of interpretation]. Iaşi, România: Polirom.

Fenton, E. (2010). The perils of failing to enhance: A response to Persson and Savulescu. Journal of Medical Ethics, 36(3), 148-151. doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/jme.2009.033597

Huidu, A. (2017). Reproducerea umană medical asistată. Etica incriminării versus etica biologică. Studiu de drept comparat [Medically assisted human reproduction. Ethics of incrimination versus biological ethics. Comparative law study]. Iași, Romania: Lumen.

Huidu, A. (2018a). Tailoring humans: The ethics of genetic engineering. În A. Sandu, A. Funză & E. Unguru (Coords.), Ethics in research practice and innovation. In printing. Hershey, SUA: IGI Global. doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-6310-5.ch014

Huidu, A. (2018). Social acceptance of ethically controversed innovative techniques related to or derived from assisted reproductive technologies – A review of literature. Eastern-European Journal of Medical Humanities and Bioethics, 2(2), 1- 14. doi:10.18662/eejmhb/11

Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (Eds.). (2000). Choices, values and frames. Cambridge, Regatul Unit al Marii Britanii: Cambridge University Press.

Lipman, A., & Newman, S. (2005). The ethics of deriving gametes from ES cells. Science, 307(5709), 515-517. doi:10.1126/science.307.5709.515c

Miehl, K. L. (2003). Preembryos: The tiniest speck of potential life carrying the seeds for sweeping change. Journal of Technology, Law and Policy, 4(1), 1-36. doi: https://doi.org/10.5195/tlp.2004.12

Mihai, M. (2015). Reproducerea asexuată la animale [Asexuated reproduction in animals]. Retrieved from https://prezi.com/cdsyupselld5/reproducereaasexuata-la-animale/

Millbank, J. (2003). From here to maternity: A review on the research on lesbian and gay families. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 38(4), 541-600. doi:10.1002/j.1839-4655.2003.tb01159.x

Parfit, D. (1984). Reasons and persons. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

Persson, I., & Săvulescu, J. (2012). Unfit for the future: The need for moral enhancement. Oxford, Regatul Unit al Marii Britanii: Oxford University Press.

Popescu, R. (2009). Introducere în sociologia familiei. Familia românească în societatea contemporană [Introduction to family sociology. The Romanian family in contemporary society]. Iaşi, România: Polirom.

Robertson, J. A. (1996). A view in favor of preserving procreative liberty. Women's Health Issues, 6(3), 140-144. doi:10.1016/1049-3867(96)85675-1

Robertson, J. A. (2017). Procreative liberty in the era of genomics. În S. A. M. McLean (Ed.), Genetics and gene therapy (pp. 109-157). Abingdon, SUA: Taylor and Francis. doi:10.4324/9781315254517-5

Sandu, A. (2015). Preliminaries to a social-semiotic model of communicative action. Postmodern Openings, 6(2), 59-77. doi:10.18662/po/2015.0602.05

Săvulescu, J. (2001). Procreative beneficence: Why we should select the best children. Bioethics, 15(5-6), 413-426. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467- 8519.00251

Săvulescu, J. (2015). Risk and regulation in research. Journal of Medical Ethics, 41(7), 503. doi:10.1136/medethics-2015-102946

Săvulescu, J. (2016). Genetic interventions and the ethics of enhancement of human beings. Gazeta de Antropologia, 32(2), 646-651. Retrieved from http://www.gazeta-antropologia.es/?p=4904

Săvulescu, J., & Kahane, G. (2009). The moral obligation to create children with the best chance of the best life. Bioethics, 23(5), 274-290. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8519.2008.00687.x

Scientists have created synthetic embryos. Here's what that could mean for humans. Fortune. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2018/05/03/syntheticembryos-stem-cells-infertility/

Scutti, S. (2018). Embryo-like structure synthesized in a lab could help decipher infertility. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/03/health/embryo-like-structure-stemcells-study/index.html

Sparrow, R. (2007). Procreative beneficence, obligation and eugenics. Genomics, Society and Policy, 3(3), 43-59. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-5354-3-3- 43

Synthetic Biology Project. (n.d.). What is synthetic biology?. Retrieved from http://www.synbioproject.org/topics/synbio101/definition/

Taylor, R. (2005). Reproductive technology: From artificial insemination to cloning. Life Issues, 2005, Noiembrie 02. Retrieved from http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/tayl/tayl_02reprotechnology.html

Downloads

Published

2019-03-22

How to Cite

Huidu, A. (2019). Parsson and Săvulescu’s ”Unfit for the Future” or the Starting Point for the Deconstruction of the Concept of Parentality. Postmodern Openings, 10(1), 200-219. https://doi.org/10.18662/po/63

Issue

Section

Theoretical articles