This paper is concerned with the prospect of changes in human nature. Various types of research—in genetics, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and robotics (GNR),1 for example—are currently underway to provide enhancements to that nature. But many believe that some such changes, at least, would do more than merely enhance. Francis Fukuyama, for example, a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics, has titled a recent book Our Posthuman Future (2002) indicating his worry that the fruit of such research will be a change in our very humanity; this worry is shared by his fellow Council member Charles Krauthammer (2001, p. 60). While any such metamorphosis must be considered a future contingent at best, present day research on such views brings us closer to the possibility minute by minute.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Braine, D. (1992). The human person. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Chappell, T.D.J. (1997). Understanding human goods. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Finnis, J. (1980). Natural law and natural rights. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.
Finnis, J. (1984). Fundamentals of ethics. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Fukuyama, F. (2002). Our posthuman future: Consequences of the biotechnology revolution. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
George, R.P. (1999). In defense of natural law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gomez-Lobo, Alfonso (2002). Morality and the human goods: An introduction to natural law ethics. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Grisez, G. (1965). The first principle of practical reason: A commentary on the summa theologiae, I–II, question 94, article 2. Natural Law Forum, 10, 168–201.
Grisez, G., Boyle, J., and Finnis, J. (1987). Practical principles, moral truth, and ultimate ends. American Journal of Jurisprudence, 32, 99–151.
Hughes, J.H. (2004). Citizen cyborg: Why democratic societies must respond to the redesigned human of the future. Cambridge: Westview Press.
Huxley, A. (1998). Brave new world. New York: Perennial Books.
Krauthammer, C. (2001). Why pro-lifers are missing the point: The debate over fetal-tissue research overlooks the big issue. Time, February 12, 2001, 60.
Kurzweil, R. (1999). The age of spiritual machines: When computers exceed human intelligence. New York: Viking.
Kurzweil, R. (2005). The singularity is near: When humans transcend biology. New York: The Penguin Group.
Oderberg, D. (2000). Moral theory: A nonconsequentialist approach. Oxford: Blackwell Press.
Olson, E. (1997a). The human animal: Personal identity without psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Olson, E. (1997b). Was I ever a fetus? Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 57, 95–110.
Murphy, M. (2001). Natural law and practical rationality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nozick, R. (1974). Anarchy, state, and utopia. Basic Books: New York.
Ramez, N. (2004). More than human: How biotechnology is transforming us and why we should embrace it. New York: Random House.
Roco, M.C., and Bainbridge, W.S. (eds.) (2002). Converging technologies for improving human performance. Washington, DC: National Science Foundation. [On-line]. Available: http://www.wtec.org/ConvergingTechnologies
Silver, L. (1998). Remaking eden: Cloning and beyond in a brave new world. New York: Avon.
Snowdon, P. (1990). Persons, animals, and ourselves, in C. Gill (ed.), The person and the human mind: Issues in ancient and modern philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The President’s Council on Bioethics. (2003). Beyond therapy: Biotechnology and the pursuit of happiness. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. [On-line]. Avaliable: http://www.bioethics.gov/reports/beyondtherapy
Tollefsen, C. (2003). Experience machines, dreams, and what matters. Journal of Value Inquiry, 37, 153–164.
Tollefsen, C. (2006). Persons in time. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 80, 107–123.
Wiggins, D. (1980). Sameness and substance. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tollefsen, C. (2009). Human Nature and Its Limits. In: Cherry, M.J. (eds) The Normativity of the Natural. Philosophical Studies in Contemporary Culture, vol 16. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2301-8_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2301-8_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-2300-1
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-2301-8
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawPhilosophy and Religion (R0)