¶ … Morality of Cloning
In her book "Discovering Right and Wrong," Louis Pojman consistently makes the same point throughout her chapters: beyond all the debate and lack of consensus, and beyond all the confusion of relative morality, there should exist a true objective standard which a rational being can discover. In all her writing she seems to challenge the readers to look for objective evidence of truth, a plea which often has much in common with a more conservative position on politics and morality. When it comes to the issue of cloning, however, it seems that the search for rational objective evidence is frequently put aside in favor of often illogical "gut reactions." It is high time that a truly reasonable approach to cloning was attempted. In order to best approach this from an objectivist standpoint, it seems reasonable to backtrack to one of the founding fathers of modern objectivism, Immanual Kant. According to Kant, there were basic objective "universal laws" which could be discovered through rational thought and what he referred to as categorical imperatives. He wrote: "act as if the maxim of your action were to become by your will a universal law of nature." By this he meant that if one could not wish that one's actions or choice were replicated by all others in similar circumstances, or moved from the individual instance into a universal law, then one could not proceed in a moral fashion. The objective truths of the world were assumed to be thus logical and rationally created so that if everyone were to abide by them perfectly the world itself would be well. If one gives credence to the voices of the religious right on the issue of cloning, one would assume that the categorical imperative was against cloning. However, on closer inspection one can find that in most foreseeable circumstances, the weight of the universal maxim may actually lie with those who support cloning. Through looking at the situation rationally and through analyzing specific arguments, one may see that despite the negative hype cloning may in fact be a moral decision which our society and our families have a right to make.
In regards to the Kantian analysis, it is curious to see how clearly it falls in favor of cloning. When one looks to banning cloning, one sees immediate issues with universally willing that all irreligious scientific advances (or even all those that might threaten to compromise the value of life) be forbidden. One might make such a blanket statement, but this would be somewhat inconsistent in that one would not wish away the many inventions and discoveries that throughout time have struck the world as sacrilegious or threaten to human kind. For example, in their time the theories of the solar system and the automation of the workplace have both been seen as compromising the value of human life and threatening the rightful place of God. While some extremist such as the Amish might wish a return to a time before such science, it is not the place of most philosophers to consistently think this way. So one would have to more specifically will into existence not a ban on "bad" science, but on cloning in particular. Yet by the same measure, one would have difficulty willing into existence a comprehensive and universal ban on the cloning of human genetic material. However, this would fail to take into account that cloning occurs naturally in utero, a case which results in identical twins. Some cultures have in fact held that twins were a sign of evil and have had strict bans upon them. The Ibo of Africa, before colonization, are one example of such a tradition: "twin births were abhorred, being viewed as abnormal. Hence, the babies were generally disposed of, and their mothers were, at times, banished." However, this is scarcely to be considered in modern times a rational moral choice, and the fact that it has existed previously in more superstitious cultures to some degree highlights the way in which its appearance in modern culture is superstitious.
Yet could cloning be looked at within the scope of a Kantian morality? The answer may be yes, depending on the reason for the clone to be made. One could in fact will that all those incapable or unwilling to give birth in other ways would reproduce themselves through cloning, and it would in no way be self defeating. One might also feasibly will that all people reproduce themselves through cloning, and while this would be slightly odd...
Cloning has become a very contentious subject. The issue of cloning has moved from the scientific arena into the cultural, religious and ethical centers of debate, for good reasons. The scientific implications of cloning affects a wide range of social and ethical concerns. The theory of cloning questions many essential areas of ethical and philosophical concern about what human life is and raises the question whether we have the right
"Animals that are experiencing dwindling numbers could be cloned to prevent their extinction. Taiwanese scientists claimed to have made five clones of an endangered pig to save this species" (Anonymous). While some say man should not play God there are others like Edmund Erde who disagree and say that "playing God" is a phrase that is "muddle-headed" and "nonsensical" and should be deserted (Edmund Erde, p.594). For those who
Cloning The debate about human cloning was carried out within the field of science fiction and fantasy, until recently. With the victorious cloning of the sheep Dolly in 1997, it became obvious that earlier or later, scientists might be able to clone human beings too. There is both encouragement and disagreement for this likelihood. Though cloning has been explained by newspapers and magazines as an exhilarating step onward that allows genetic
Experiments in the late nineteenth century on frogs provided the groundwork for cloning (McKinnell 9-10). The method used a decade ago for the successful nuclear transplantation in amphibians required that the egg be enucleated, which meant removing the maternal hereditary material contained in the egg nucleus. Other hereditary material contained in the nucleus from a body cell would then be placed in the enucleated egg, and the resulting clone would
and, that is, for how much longer should this experimentation be tolerated given the animal suffering involved and the deliberate creation of abominations of nature. Currently, many countries around the world have banned the use of reproductive, human cloning on ethical grounds, while allowing research to continue in the area of therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning of animals. Of course, there are also countries that are permitting the development of
Scientific research and specifically cloning is protected as a first amendment right, coupled with the benefits available with this technology, and the unimaginable benefits that can be reaped in the future, cloning is the hope of the future, despite the worries of critics. References After Dolly: The Uses and Misuses of Human Cloning." The Futurist 40(4) Jul-Aug 2006: p. 62. InfoTrac database. Thomson-Gale. University of Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ. July 5, 2006
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