Nanotechnology, Enhancement, and Human Nature

Is nanotechnology-based human enhancement morally permissible? One reason to question such enhancement stems from a concern for preserving our species. It is harder than one might think, however, to explain what could be wrong with altering our own species. One possibility is to turn to the environmental ethics literature. Perhaps some of the arguments for preserving other species can be applied against nanotechnology-based human enhancements that alter human nature. This paper critically examines the case for using two of the strongest arguments in the environmental ethics literature to show that nanotechnology-based human enhancements are impermissible: 1) Our species, like many other naturally occurring species, has aesthetic value. So, nanotechnology-based human enhancements that alter our species should be prohibited. 2) Our species plays valuable ecological roles. Nanotechnology-based human enhancements that alter our species are likely to interfere with our species playing our ecologically valuable roles. So, such enhancements should be prohibited. Neither argument, ultimately, proves conclusive. The paper concludes, however, that considerations underlying both arguments may show us that some nanotechnology-based human enhancements are impermissible.     

基因与人性:影响人性的若干基因

人类行为既受到遗传因素的影响,同时也受到环境(文化)因素的影响。近年来逐渐引起众多学科领域关注的行为遗传学研究从行为的基因关联出发,系统研究了行为的遗传因素及其基因基础,取得了令人瞩目的成绩。该文系统总结了八种人类重要行为的基因基础及其与环境因素的关系,并从基因与人性的关系角度进行了讨论。     

The Implications of Prospect Theory for Human Nature and Values

Central to prospect theory are far-reaching claims about what people fear and what gratifies them. Subjective well-being is a topic that social science has been reluctant to discuss in recent years, but it is central to much of our lives. A loss inflicts more harm than a comparable gain produces pleasure; this fact and the related endowment effect are important parts of our psychological makeup. The importance of change rather than absolute value position, and the related significance of the reference point and how it can be altered, can be seen as integral to human nature.     

Sociobiology and Human Nature: A Perspective from Catholic Theology

This paper addresses a nonspecialist audience on how sociobiological accounts of human nature might be relevant to Christian theology. I begin with some confessional remarks to clarify what I mean by Christian theology and how I understand it to be related to science. I indicate briefly why sociobiology might be of interest to theology and then move on to sketch some ways in which sociobiology might relate to theological ethics. My basic point is that sociobiology is directly relevant to theological ethics in its understanding of evolved human emotional predispositions but not in its normative reflection proper.     

Human Becoming: Cognitive and Moral Enhancement Inside the Imago Dei Narrative

Abstract

With advancements in human enhancement technologies and sciences, the reality of moral/cognitive enhancements is close upon us. In light of recent advances in the fields of cognitive science of religion (CSR), neurotheology and philosophy of technology this paper follows the contemporary neuroethics debate on the subject of moral bioenhancement and engages it inside an imago Dei narrative. To explore this possibility we first establish some major points in the contemporary imago Dei debate, especially the substantial and relational aspect and some of its important interpretations. We then move to an exploration of the very possibility of moral/cognitive bioenhancement, as well as some concrete pitfalls and opportunities, inside the imago Dei narrative. Lastly, we try to portray a wider theological picture in which we engage humanity as both sacred and technological being living in a dynamic cosmic environment we are called to sanctify through the election offered to us by the Reedemer. To establish this we contemplate on the relationship between our eschatological fulfillment, the process of theosis, and the being and role of technology itself.     

中国儒家文化中的人性观

介绍了孟子的性善论,荀子的性恶论,告子的人性无善无恶论,以及扬雄的人性善恶相混论。希望通过对儒家文化的分析来为传统文化对人格形成的影响提供参考。     

Untangling the Debate: The Ethics of Human Enhancement

Human enhancement, in which nanotechnology is expected to play a major role, continues to be a highly contentious ethical debate, with experts on both sides calling it the single most important issue facing science and society in this brave, new century. This paper is a broad introduction to the symposium herein that explores a range of perspectives related to that debate. We will discuss what human enhancement is and its apparent contrast to therapy; and we will begin to tease apart the myriad intertwined issues that arise in the debate: (1) freedom & autonomy, (2) health & safety, (3) fairness & equity, (4) societal disruption, and (5) human dignity.

生殖细胞基因增强技术的伦理争议与对策

分析生殖细胞基因增强的概念,论述支持和反对生殖细胞基因增强的理由,初步探讨伦理学对策.在人类理性的指引下,生殖细胞基因增强能够成为造福人类的有力武器.     

论朱熹对"继善成性"说的规范

"继善成性"是易学哲学的重要问题.朱熹解释"继善成性"总体上不是为字义的通顺,而在为他的理学本体论作论证.理上气下的基本原则通过易学的语言进一步得到贯彻.善与性、天与人、未发与已发、天理流行与人物成性等,虽也体现了天人之间的密切关联,但又不能将一般天理与已具形质的人性混淆起来."继善成性"说的优长,就在于它将由天至人的生成序列,解释为一个以天道为本而构筑本性的思辨逻辑,同时兼顾个体形质生成带来的特殊性.而本性只是"存"而非"成",以卫护本然之性纯善无恶的假定.     

戴震义理之学中的人性结构模式

戴震的人性学说是其义理之学的重要组成部分,是建构在其坚实的“血气心知”基础之上的。戴震论“性“,已不单纯局限于“性”之自身,而是具有超越“性”自身的人类学或伦理学的含义。本文将从人性的生成阶段、人性的自然结构和社会结构等方面对戴震的人性结构模式学说做一番梳理。     

心理辅导三大理论之人性观之剖析

人性观是对人的基本看法和哲学假设,在心理咨询和资料中,人性观是一切方法和技术的理论基础。在回答什么是人性和人性观的基础上,总结出人性观所应回答的基本问题,依据精神分析、行为主义和人本主义三大辅导流派对人性观基本问题所作的回答,剖析了三大流派的人性观。     

呼唤人性的医学——对医学人性化和人文化回归的企盼

当前 ,在医学领域尤其是临床医疗领域存在着严重的“人性淡漠”趋势 ,这一现象令人十分担忧 ,它不仅将严重阻碍医学自身的健康发展 ,而且会产生恶劣的社会影响。列举了当今医界带有普遍性的“人文精神贫乏症”的种种表现 ,在此基础上 ,深入剖析了这一现象背后的历史与现实、社会与个人的诸多原因。最后发出了“人性医学回归”的强烈呼唤 ,并提出了一些具体的且有现实意义的对策措施。     

《管子》的天地人和合观探析

《管子》的和合是一种差等和合,治国理念以天地人和合观为基础,建立了形而上的天地和合道德根据,治国的目标是为了达到社会和合偕习,和合观的使用在方法上运用个人内心和合、国家内外和合达到国家治理,形下之用体现于政治上政通人和以实现天地人和。管子之所以成为我国春秋初期著名的政治家,是因为他的治国理念高远、方法得当、运用适宜,既有道德感化,又有法治辅助,还有礼义调和,实现了社会上下和合、内外和合、形上形下和合。     

Biology Precedes, Culture Transcends: An Evolutionist's View of Human Nature

I will, first, outline what we currently know about the last 4 million years of human evolutionary history, from bipedal but small-brained Australopithecus to modern Homo sapiens, our species, through the prolific toolmaker Homo habilis and the continent wanderer Homo erectus. I shall then identify anatomical traits that distinguish us from other animals and point out our two kinds of heredity, the biological and the cultural.
Biological inheritance is based on the transmission of genetic information, in humans very much the same as in other sexually reproducing organisms. But cultural inheritance is distinctively human, based on transmission of information by a teaching and learning process that is in principle independent of biological parentage. Cultural inheritance makes possible the cumulative transmission of experience from generation to generation. Cultural heredity is a swifter and more effective (because it can be designed) mode of adaptation to the environment than the biological mode. The advent of cultural heredity ushered in cultural evolution, which transcends biological evolution.
I will, finally, explore ethical behavior as a model case of a distinctive human trait, and seek to ascertain the causal connections between human ethics and human biology. My conclusions are that (1) moral reasoning—that is, the proclivity to make ethical judgments by evaluating actions as either good or evil—is rooted in our biological nature; it is a necessary outcome of our exalted intelligence, but (2) the moral codes that guide our decisions as to which actions are good and which ones are evil are products of culture, including social and religious traditions. This second conclusion contradicts those evolutionists and sociobiologists who claim that the morally good is simply that which is promoted by the process of biological evolution.     

The Institute on Human Values in Medicine: Its Role and Influence in the Conception and Evolution of Bioethics

For ten years, 1971–1981, the Institute onHuman Values in Medicine (IHVM) played a keyrole in the development of Bioethics as afield. We have written this history andanalysis to bring to new generations ofBioethicists information about the developmentof their field within both the humanitiesdisciplines and the health professions. Thepioneers in medical humanities and ethics cametogether with medical professionals in thedecade of the 1960s. By the 1980s Bioethics wasa fully recognized discipline. We show the rolethat IHVM programs played in defining thefield, training faculty and helping schools todevelop programs. We review the beginnings ofthe IHVM in the crucible of social andtechnological change that led to theestablishment of the IHVM's parentorganization, the Society for Health and HumanValues. We then turn to the IHVM programsthrough which Faculty members receivedfellowships to explore new crossovers betweenthe humanities and the health professions. Wehave not only described the Fellows Program asit existed in 1973–1980, but have completed asurvey of the fellows a quarter of a centuryafter they held their fellowships. We describeother IHVM programs designed to facilitate theinitiation and development of new humanitiesprograms, to explore conceptual issues betweenmedicine and five humanities fields, to conductissue driven or educational method conferencesand to advance humanities programs intograduate education through the Directors ofMedical Education.     

人与自然关系:作为中西文学发展的重要线索

人与自然关系是文学表现的重要母题。透过文学的发展,可以窥视出人类社会在社会实践推动下所走过的历史道路。本文意在通过中西文学发展中人与自然关系的描写,揭示人与自然关系的变化过程,并在历史的视野中审视生态批判的当代意义。     

中英文《圣经》翻译中本体论和人性论的文化差异

文化不仅是一个民族、国家、地区人民的生存方式,而且也是他们的思维甚至审美的模式。不同文化自有不同的思维,即使是对同一事物,同一理论,在翻译挪用中,也会留下各自不同的印记而同它的模式保持蛛丝马迹的联系。当圣经被译为不同文字,而与不同国度的社会信仰熔铸在一起的时候,同样表现出各自思维的特色或者说文化的特征。圣经中英文本在本体论上道与word,人性论上罪与sin翻译的不同,同样是文化差异的具体表现。     

"推天道以明人事":邵雍先天易学旨趣

邵雍对其先天易学(或称先天学、先天象数学)的阐释是为推演先天而在的形上之理而展开,在此过程中,先天象数易学只是其表意的工具而不是其学术思想的全部.形式上,先天易学是邵雍通过一套阴阳消长模式构建起来的象数易学;而内容上,先天易学则是其借<易>阐发儒家的性命义理之学.邵雍在其易学思想的阐释中,力图构建一个贯穿于天地万物的最高法则--"先天"之道,而最终落脚点却是其儒学所主张的人事之用.因此,他对易学的阐释始终围绕着"推天道以明人事"的易学旨趣展开.     

中西方古代“性善论”比较研究

本论文以中国古代儒家思想（以孔子和孟子为代表）和西方古希腊三杰（苏格拉底、柏拉图和亚里士多德）的人性思想中的＂性善论＂为研究对象,说明两者在唯心主义色彩、重义轻利的立场以及在重视人性的后天培养等几个方面的相似性;同时,作者还认识到,由于文化差异,双方在诸多方面又存在不同,主要表现为中西方在历史上占主导地位的人性观不同、在人性培养的方法认识上的差别、人与人之间关系的差异等。     

Genes, religion and society: The developing views of the churches

This paper (1) reviews and analyzes the positions on genetics taken in the official statements of Christian churches in the United States, together with church institutions of global status, and 2) offers suggestions about possible future responses of the churches to genetics and biotechnology.