Exploitation

Abstract

The aspiration to ensure access to human DNA without exploitation of research communities being a central theme of the book, this chapter explores meanings of the word exploitation from its everyday usage to its various interpretations as a philosophical concept. The most significant contributions from the literature are traversed, such as advantageous use of someone, or interaction stained by wrong, or gaining advantage at the expense of another. Legal approaches to exploitation are introduced, with substantive and procedural fairness as themes that are revisited throughout the book. Likewise, non-legal approaches are introduced such as Wertheimer’s taking unfair advantage, focus on consent as an indicator of fairness, and the Principle of Permissable Exploitation. Finally Mayer’s three forms of exploitation are chosen as providing clear guidance for the questions being examined. The three forms are firstly where exploiters do not benefit their victims at all (the free rider), secondly where they do not benefit them sufficiently (an unfair exchange), and thirdly where they do not benefit them authentically (an illegal or highly immoral transaction, e.g. the provision of heroin at reasonable prices). The chapter closes by explaining how Mayer’s last two classes will be used as yardsticks in subjecting the exchange of human DNA to scrutiny.