Chimeras and human dignity. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Discussions about whether new biomedical technologies threaten or violate human dignity are now common. Indeed, appeals to human dignity have played a central role in national and international debates about whether to allow particular kinds of biomedical investigations. The focus of this paper is on chimera research. I argue here that both those who claim that particular types of human-nonhuman chimera research threaten human dignity and those who argue that such threat does not exist fail to make their case. I first introduce some of the arguments that have been offered supporting the claim that the creation of certain sorts of chimeras threatens or violates human dignity. I next present opponents' assessments of such arguments. Finally I critically analyze both the critics' and the supporters' claims about whether chimera research threatens human dignity.

publication date

  • December 1, 2008

Research

keywords

  • Chimera
  • Dehumanization
  • Ethics, Research
  • Genetic Research
  • Human Rights

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 59449108566

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1353/ken.0.0268

PubMed ID

  • 19143408

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 18

issue

  • 4