Abstract
In this article, the author argues that there are psychological and biological constraints on our moral behaviour, rational decision-making and capacities to love. For example, low oxytocin levels can constrain our willingness to cooperate with others, and our capacity to maintain long-term loving relationships. There is also evidence that increasing iodine intake can improve a person’s general intelligence, while drugs such as Modafinil can enhance cognitive performance. Savulescu argues that we have a moral obligation to remove those constraints, and that we ought to accept these methods of improving our moral behaviour, decision-making, and cognitive functioning.
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Materials in This Article Are Drawn from the Following Texts
Savulescu, J. 2006. ‘Genetic interventions and the ethics of enhancement of human beings’. In The Oxford Handbook of Bioethics, edited by Steinbock, B. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 516–535.
Savulescu, J. 2009. ‘Genetic enhancement’. In A Companion to Bioethics. 2nd ed. Edited by Kuhse, H.; Singer, P. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Savulescu, J; Kahane, G. 2009. ‘The moral obligation to create children with the best chance of the best life’. Bioethics 23(5): 274–290.
Savulescu, J. 2001. ‘Procreative beneficence: Why we should select the best children’. Bioethics 15(5): 413–426.
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Savulescu, J. Human Liberation. Monash Bioethics Review 29, 1–18 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03351320
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03351320