Abstract
In this essay, I will investigate the implications of human enhancement for personal identity and assess likely social and ethical consequences of these changes. Human enhancement, also called human augmentation, is an emerging field within medicine and bioengineering that aims to develop technologies and techniques for overcoming current limitations of human cognitive and physical abilities (Naam, 2004; Wilsdon and Miller, 2006; Garreau, 2005; Parens, 1998; Agar, 2004). Technologies developed in this field are called human enhancement technologies (HETs). HETs rely on advances in genetic engineering, pharmacology, bioengineering, cybernetics and nanotechnology. In these fields, it is becoming possible to develop techniques that improve human functions beyond a normal range. The envisioned applications are limitless, and include the enhancement of human traits like muscular strength, endurance, vision, intelligence, mood and personality.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Agar, N. (2004) Liberal Eugenics: in Defence of Human Enhancement (Blackwell Publishers).
Bandura, A. (1977) ‘Self-Efficacy: toward a Unifying Theory of Behaviour Change’, Psychological Review, 84: 191–215.
Baylis, F. andJ. Robert (2004)‘The Inevitability of Genetic Enhancement Technologies’, Bioethics, 18(1): 1–26.
Bordo, S. (1998) ‘Braveheart, Babe, and the Contemporary Body’, in E. Parens (ed.) Enhancing Human Traits: Ethical and Social Issues ( Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press ), pp. 189–221.
Bostrom N. (2003a) ‘Human Genetic Enhancements: a Transhumanist Perspective’, The Journal of Value Inquiry, 37 (4): 493–506.
Bostrom N. ((2003b) ‘Transhumanist Values’, in F. Adams (ed.) Ethical Issues for the 21st Century (Philosophical Documentation Center Press).
Bostrom N. ( (2005) ‘In Defense of Posthuman Dignity’, Bioethics, 19 (3): 202–14.
Brey, P. (2005) ‘Prosthetics’, in C. Mitcham (ed.) Macmillan Encyclopedia of Science, Technology and Ethics (Macmillan Press).
Cash, T. and T. Pruzinsky (1990) Body Images: Development, Deviance and Change (Guilford Press).
DeGrazia, D. (2005) ‘Enhancement Technologies and Human Identity’, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 30: 261–83.
Elliott, C. (2003) Better Than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream (Norton).
Epstein, S. (1973) ‘The Self-Concept Revisited: or a Theory of a Theory’, American Psychologist, 28: 405–16.
Feldman, R. (1992) Who You Are: Personality and Its Development (Franklin Watts).
Freitas, R. (1999) Nanomedicine, Vol. I: Basic Capabilities ( Georgetown, Tex.: Landes Bioscience).
Fukuyama, F. (2002) Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution ( Farrar, Straus and Giroux).
Garreau, J. (2005) Radical Evolution: the Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies—and What It Means to Be Human (Doubleday).
Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and Self-Identity. Self and Society in the Late Modern Age ( Cambridge: Polity Press).
Habermas, J. (2003) The Future of Human Nature (Polity Press).
Haraway, D. (1985) ‘A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980’s’, Socialist Review, 80: 56–107.
Hogle, L. (2005) ‘Enhancement Technologies and the Body’, Annual Review of Anthropology, 34: 695–716.
Kass, L. (2002) Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity: the Challenge for Bioethics (Encounter Books).
Kurzweil, R. (2005) The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (Viking Adult).
Lewis, M. and J. Brooks-Gunn (1979) Social Cognition and the Acquisition of Self ( New York: Plenum Press).
Little, M. (1998) ‘Cosmetic Surgery, Suspect Norms, and the Ethics of Complicity’, in E. Parens (ed.) Enhancing Human Traits: Ethical and Social Issues ( Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press ).
Markus, H. and E. Wurf (1987) ‘The Dynamic Self-Concept: a Social Psychological Perspective’, Psychological Review, 38: 299–337.
Naam, Ramez (2004) More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement (Joseph Henry Press).
Parens, E. (ed.) (1998) Enhancing Human Traits: Ethical and Social Issues ( Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press ).
President’s Council on Bioethics, The (2003) Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness (New York: Regan Books), retrieved at http://www.bioethics.gov/reports/beyondtherapy.
Rawls, J. (1971) A Theory of Justice ( Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press).
Rawls, J. (1993) Political Liberalism (Columbia University Press).
Roberts, J. and F. Baylis (2003) ‘Crossing Species Boundaries’, The American Journal of Bioethics, 3 (3): 1–13.
Sandel, M. (2002) ‘What’s Wrong with Enhancement’, retrieved at: http://www.bioethics.gov/background/sandelpaper.html.
Scanlon, C. (2005) ‘The Price of Beauty in South Korea’, BBC News, 3 February. Retrieved at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4229995.stm
Shrauger, J. and T. Scheneman (1979) ‘Symbolic Interactionist View of Self-Concept: through the Looking Glass Darkly’, Psychological Bulletin, 86: 549–73.
Slater, D. (1997) Consumer Culture and Modernity (Polity Press).
Stock, G. (2002) Redesigning Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future (Houghton Mifflin).
Stock, G. and J. Campbell (eds) (2000) Engineering the Human Germline: an Exploration of the Science and Ethics of Altering the Genes We Pass to Our Children (Oxford University Press).
Tajfel, H. (ed.) (1982) Social Identity and Intergroup Relations ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press ).
Taylor, C. (1989) Sources of the Self: the Making of the Modern Identity ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Wachbroit, R. (2000) ‘Human Enhancement Uses of Biotechnology: Overview’, in T. Murray and M. Mehlman (eds) Encyclopedia of Ethical, Legal and Policy Issues in Biotechnology (Wiley-Interscience).
Wilsdon, J. and P. Miller (eds) (2006) Better Humans: the Politics of Human Enhancement and Life Extension (Demos).
Wylie, R., P. Miller, S. Cowles and A. Wilson (1979) The Self-Concept. Vol. 2: Theory and Research on Selected Topics ( Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press).
Young, S. (2005) Designer Evolution: a Transhumanist Manifesto (Prometheus Books).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2009 Philip Brey
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Brey, P. (2009). Human Enhancement and Personal Identity. In: Olsen, J.K.B., Selinger, E., Riis, S. (eds) New Waves in Philosophy of Technology. New Waves in Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230227279_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230227279_9
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-230-22000-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-22727-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave Religion & Philosophy CollectionPhilosophy and Religion (R0)