Skip to main content

Human Enhancement: Is It ‘Mere’ Science Fiction? The Rise and Rise of Disembodied Ethics

  • Chapter
From Literature to Cultural Literacy
  • 273 Accesses

Abstract

In this essay, I will argue that fictionality is a valuable and useful part of human experience in engineering, science and other technological fields.1 New technologies, which are important for innovation-based economies, require creativity both in science and in the translation of scientific discoveries into economically valuable technologies which contribute to human wellbeing. Fictionality contributes to creativity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Works cited

  • Atkins, Kim (2000) ‘Autonomy and the subjective character of experience’, Journal of Applied Philosophy, 17 (1), 71–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradshaw-Martin, H G. (2012) Defining Enhancement, Disability and Therapy: How Technology Affects Identity and the Ethical Implications of This, unpubl. PhD thesis, Centre for Ethics in Medicine (Bristol: University of Bristol).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunkel, David J. (2012) The Machine Question: Critical Perspectives on AI, Robots, and Ethics (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, Jaegwon (1996) Philosophy of Mind, Dimensions of philosophy series (Boulder, CO: Westview Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lycan, William G. (1999) Mind and Cognition: An Anthology, Second Edition (Malden, MA: Oxford: Blackwell Publishers).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagel, Thomas (1974) ‘What is it like to be a bat?’, The Philosophical Review, 83 (4), 435–450.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oxford English Dictionary Online Oxford University Press: http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/64755?redirectedFrom=ethics (accessed 15 December 2013).

  • Petroski, Henry (1985) To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design (London: Macmillan).

    Google Scholar 

  • Roache, Rebecca (2008) ‘Ethics, speculation and values’, Nanoethics, 2, 317–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosati, Connie S. (1995) ‘Persons, perspectives, and full information accounts of the good’, Ethics: An International Journal of Social, Political, and Legal Philosophy, 105 (2), 29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shanahan, Murray (2010) Embodiment and the Inner Life: Cognition and Consciousness in the Space of Possible Minds (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Singer, Peter (1993) Practical Ethics, Second Edition (Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2014 Heather Bradshaw-Martin

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Bradshaw-Martin, H. (2014). Human Enhancement: Is It ‘Mere’ Science Fiction? The Rise and Rise of Disembodied Ethics. In: Segal, N., Koleva, D. (eds) From Literature to Cultural Literacy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137429704_15

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics