From Self-preservation to Human Enhancement
Keywords:
moral duty of self-preservation, human enhancement, egoism, altruism.Abstract
The ancient sages, both in the East and in the West, all taught that we should not harm
others, rather we must love our neighbors. But what about loving oneself? In Jahr’s discussion
on the 5th Commandment as an expression of the moral law, he talked about the duty of
self-preservation. He said: ”… in Christian perspective every human life as such is morally
sacred – including one’s own life. Preservation of life – and one’s own life not excluded – is
a duty.“ This is an interesting statement. Looking at today’s world especially the progress of
biomedical technology, human beings have attempted to preserve themselves through the biotechnological enhancement. Is it what Jahr means that we have a duty of self-preservation?
This paper will discuss Jahr’s view on life preservation and also look at the ongoing debates of
human enhancement in the world today
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
