J Med Ethics 2010;36:687-693 doi:10.1136/jme.2010.038232
Global medical ethics
Synthetic biology and the ethics of knowledge
Thomas Douglas, Julian Savulescu
+Author Affiliations
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Correspondence toDr Thomas Douglas, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford, Suite 8, Littlegate House, 16/17 St Ebbe's Street, Oxford OX1 1PT, UK;
thomas.douglas@philosophy.ox.ac.uk
Received 9 June 2010
Accepted 9 June 2010
Published Online First 8 October 2010
Abstract
Synthetic biologists aim to generate biological organisms according to rational design principles. Their work may have many beneficial applications, but it also raises potentially serious ethical concerns. In this article, we consider what attention the discipline demands from bioethicists. We argue that the most important issue for ethicists to examine is the risk that knowledge from synthetic biology will be misused, for example, in biological terrorism or warfare. To adequately address this concern, bioethics will need to broaden its scope, contemplating not just the means by which scientific knowledge is produced, but also what kinds of knowledge should be sought and disseminated.
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NOTA DESTE BLOGGER:
Ideias, mesmo as científicas, têm consequências. Que o darwinismo conduz ao darwinismo social e à eugenia, e por tabela ao Holocausto, só não consegue entender os obtusos de mentes cauterizadas por uma ideologia naturalista que posa como se fosse ciência. Nada mais falso e abjeto!
