Centre for Human Bioethics, School of Philosophical, Historical, and International Studies, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.
J Med Ethics. 2011 May;37(5):276-9. doi: 10.1136/jme.2010.039982.
This paper criticises John Harris's attempts to defend an account of a 'harmed condition' that can stand independently of intuitions about what is 'normal'. I argue that because Homo sapiens is a sexually dimorphic species, determining whether a particular individual is in a harmed condition or not will sometimes require making reference to the normal capacities of their sex. Consequently, Harris's account is unable to play the role he intends for it in debates about the ethics of human enhancement.
本文批评了约翰·哈里斯试图为一种“受损状态”辩护,这种状态可以独立于关于“正常”的直觉。我认为,由于智人是一种性别二态的物种,确定一个特定的个体是否处于受损状态有时需要参考他们性别的正常能力。因此,哈里斯的说法无法在关于人类增强伦理的争论中发挥他所期望的作用。