Abstract
It is sometimes said that while we have an obligation to cure disease and prevent or ameliorate disability, we do not have an obligation to enhance or improve upon a normal healthy life. Indeed it is often said that not only do we have no obligation to enhance, we have a positive duty not to do any such thing. Enhancements are often, perhaps most usually considered anathema In this paper we argue against this assertion and maintain that not only does such an obligation exist, but also where it is possible to confer upon one’s child certain health advantages or enhancements, then to fail to enhance is in fact to disable them.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Boorse, C. (1981). On the distinction between disease and illness. In M. Cohen, T. Nagel, & T. Scanlon (Eds.), Medicine and moral philosophy (pp. 11–13). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Daniels, N. (1985). Just health care. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Daniels, N. (1996). Justice and justification. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Daniels, N. (2000). Normal functioning and the treatment-enhancement distinction. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 9, 309–322.
Glover, J. (1990). Causing death and saving lives. London: Penguin Books.
Harris, J. (1980). Violence and responsibility. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Harris, J. (1992). Wonderwoman and superman. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Harris, J. (1993). Is gene therapy a form of eugenics? Bioethics, 7, 179–189.
Harris, J. (2001). One principle and three fallacies of disability studies. Journal of Medical Ethics, 27, 383–387.
Sandel, M. J. (2004, April). The case against perfection: What’s wrong with designer children, bionic athletes, and genetic engineering. Atlantic Monthly, 292, 50–54.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Quigley, M., Harris, J. (2009). To Fail to Enhance is to Disable. In: Ralston, D., Ho, J. (eds) Philosophical Reflections on Disability. Philosophy and Medicine, vol 104. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2477-0_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2477-0_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-2476-3
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-2477-0
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)