Synthetic Biology and the Argument from Continuity with Established Technologies

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Defenders of synthetic biology commonly make reference to the fact that established technologies, such as domestication or selective breeding, share some of the features of synthetic biology that critics argue make it ethically problematic. In this chapter, I reconstruct such references as instances of a type of argument which I dub the Continuity Argument. Roughly, the Continuity Argument seeks to show that if we are not disposed to reject the established technology, then features that this technology share with synthetic biology cannot provide reasons to find it ethically problematic. I assess the soundness of this argument and point out three problems with it: (1) That it fails to show that we should stop being critical of synthetic biology rather than start being critical of the established technologies; (2) that it does not take differences in degree into account; and (3) that it ignores the distinction between what reasons we have and what we should do all things considered. I then illustrate the Continuity Argument and its problems in the case where human manipulation of organisms’ genetic makeup is a suggested reason for finding synthetic biology problematic. Finally, I suggest ways in which references to established technologies can be used in a sound way in the ethical assessment of synthetic biology.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAmbivalences of Creating Life : Societal and Philosophical Dimensions of Synthetic Biology
EditorsKristin Hagen, Margaret Engelhard, Georg Toepfer
Number of pages18
Place of PublicationCham
PublisherSpringer
Publication date30 Nov 2015
Pages293-311
ISBN (Print)978-3-319-21087-2
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-319-21088-9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 30 Nov 2015
SeriesEthics of Science and Technology Assessment
Volume45
ISSN1860-4803

Bibliographical note

Cop. 2016, men udgivet 2015

ID: 143114631