PHIL 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Julian Savulescu, Consequentialism, Liberal Eugenics
Document Summary
De melo martin against savulescu: aggregate effects: there can be unforeseen negative consequences by choosing to follow procreative beneficence; selection works against itself by diluting the advantage by encouraging or coercing. Once you start shooting for the best and not just necessity, you realize the demand p. b. really implies. It starts to be really picky about the traits we should be selecting for. When everyone selects for a trait then the trait becomes the norm, not a benefit: access (unequal) -> only a small number of people would be able to do this. -> it is strange to defend a moral obligation that we know cannot be met by an important part of the population. This argument is appealing to parents because all parents can agree to the basic moral principle: liberal eugenics is based upon individual free choice, pluralist values and up-to- date information about genetics. The old eugenics was focused on society as a whole.
