Genetic Essentialisim and Embroy Identitiy.

This is a difficult position to defend, even from a standpoint to embryonic identity. However this situation only worsens when we begin to consider things other than embryo’s. It seems difficult to suggest that a persons identity is constituted by his genome and whenever there is a mutation or alteration in it occurs then his identity changes. This seems strange, if this was the case then our identity would change regularly, I would not be the same person on a regular basis. Admittedly Zohars attempts to limit his claims to embryo’s but even here there appears to be problems. Yes he is right in that if a small portion of genetic material is changed or mutated from one moment to the next with and embryo that the embryo’s are no longer strictly identical, in the sense that everything about them is the same. Almost everything about them is identical to what it was previously, they are continuous spatio-temporally and are still perform the same functions as they did previously.As with persons changes, even some quite radical changes, such as the loss of limbs or sight do not by themselves change a persons identity from what it was previously.

Genetic Essentialisim!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is no history or continuity that we can point to with respect to embryo’s who thinks that this conception “can be of little help in determining embryonic identity through genetic alteration.” He therefore seeks to find an alternative viewpoint on identity that he can apply to the issue of embryonic identity. To begin this search Zohar considers the tale of the ship of Theseus his contention that “what primarily characterizes this ship is the particulars of how it runs, how it specifically functions as a ship." His claim is that the fact that we consider the ship to be the same ship despite the replacement of parts of it “is grounded in the primacy of functional organization.”He then goes on to suggest that if the ship was a self constructing unit with its own built in blueprints, then these blueprints would be central to its identity. This he claims is similar genetic makeup; “is not genetic makeup such an enhanced set of blueprints.”He does however acknowledge that in postnatal humans that while geneotype is an important part of a persons identity it is not the only one. This is not the case he claims with embryo’s “at the embryonic stage, all we have to go by is the genotype. If there is any sense at all in which considering the embryo’s existence to be the beginning (or: origin) of a particular human life, then it surely comes down to the fact that once the genotype has been specified, personal identity has been significantly determined.”It is Zohars claim that what is the important and relevant factor for embryonic identity is a persons genome.

Human Clonning and "The Matter of Whiteness"

The article "The Matter of Whiteness" by Richard Dyer, brings up some very important points about the way we treat the topic of race. It is true that it is always in play with how we think and how we make certain decisions. Do I think it is right? Absolutely not. I do believe that to a certain extent, we can't help it. As humans, we naturally categorize people and make judgements, not to be mean, but to better understand our surroundings. So in essence, everyone is a little bit racist. However, the line is drawn at saying negative comments or letting the aspect of race to be a deterent on decisions. One claim that I absolutely disagree with in this article is that being white means that we are non-raced. I can not count how many times I've been called a "white girl" or a white women. Just because that is not as frequent of an occurence in our society doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. Being a racist is not just a white thing. In my personal experience, I have been judged and spoke badly of for my color than I have ever done to a person of a different race. I do admit that the terms like "black" are used to describe people and I am not innocent of refering to people like that.

Genetic Engineering can cope with diversity...

Personally, I think the content in this article is highly controversial and it will be something that is argued about for decades. Even as the science becomes available, I do not think that it will be accepted. Both of the therapies discussed in the article are, in my opinion, opening a can of worms. The germ line therapy is the one that I believe has more ramifications. The idea is that you can essentially alter all of the genetic “errors” in an unborn child. The problem is who will decide what the errors really are. Some will view the errors as the serious and life threatening diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and Down syndrome. What about the people that view a certain race as a genetic error? Are we really going to allow the elimination of a race because someone views it as an error? Another part of the article that really struck a nerve was the decision of the parents to alter their unborn child. The fact that if they decide not to alter their child it would be considered as child abuse or as a heinous crime really bothers me. It is a parent’s decision whether or not to change their child.

Genetic engineering and Human Clonning

Hypothermia particularly in severe cases is rightly considered a malady in Bio Technology

An important part of the definition offered by Gert is that for a condition to be considered a malady there must be an absence of an external distinct sustaining cause. There must not be a cause that is linked to the condition in such a way that the harm or evil associated with the condition is only present when the cause is and if the cause is removed then so too is the harm or evil associated with the condition. For a condition to count as a malady, the harm caused by the condition must still be present even if the cause of the condition is removed. For example, suppose I apply an electrical current to you cause to pain without doing any actual damage to you either mentally or physically. Furthermore this pain does not remain after the removal of the current. Even though while I was administering the current you would be suffering pain, which as has been shown is a harm or evil, which should be avoided, you could not be said to be suffering from a malady. For as soon as I removed the current, the pain would also cease. The harmful condition pain, would have a distinct sustaining cause, that of the electricity that I am passing through your body. If, however, by passing an electrical current through your body on a number of occasions, I caused a harmful condition, either physical (there was actual damage to parts of your body, such as burn, or organs whose activities were compromised) or mental (a rational fear of being in a room with strangers with electrical cables) that continued after the current stopped, then you could be suffering from a malady. A more problematic example may be that of hypothermia, where it could be suggested that the sustaining cause is intense cold and if that is removed then so is the hypothermia, and so hypothermia does not count as a malady. This however is not entirely correct, unlike in the case of non-harmful electroshock, when a person is removed from intense cold, the condition does not abate immediately. In fact hypothermia may actually cause long-term damage to the person’s body. It is possible therefore that hypothermia particularly in severe cases is rightly considered a malady.

Increased risk of suffering harms and evils associated with the condition...

An analogous situation would be a person who has been infected by AIDS, but has not yet developed symptoms of the condition, that is they are HIV positive. People who are HIV positive are and rightly should be considered to be suffering from a malady, even though they have not developed any symptoms. This is because they are at an increased risk of suffering harms and evils associated with the condition. Another condition that should be considered to be a malady and mirrors the situation of Huntington disease closely is high blood pressure. People are routinely considered to be suffering from a malady if they have high blood pressure. This is at least in part due to the increased risks of developing other conditions, such as heart attack, which will cause them considerable suffering. It is clear that if we consider a person who is HIV positive or someone who has high blood pressure to be suffering from a malady, then a person who has the gene for Huntington disease should also be considered to have a malady: a genetic malady. This being the case, if there were genetic interventions that would stop or greatly reduce the risk of a person with the Huntington gene from developing the condition, which were safe, effective and morally permissible, then the person with the Huntington gene would have a similar call for medical assistance that those persons who are HIV positive or who have high blood pressure have in relation to their respective conditions.