Deck 15: Human Genetic Engineering

Question 1

When IVF is used in combination with PGD to select embryos for implantation, which of these options, if any, is more morally problematic?

A) Selecting embryos for the absence of disease traits
B) Selecting embryos for the presence of nondisease traits
C) A and B are equally morally problematic
D) Neither A nor B are morally problematic

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Using IVF with PGD to select for a disability trait has been thought to violate the child's right to an open future. This argument rests on

A) Calculations of benefits versus burdens
B) Duties of beneficence toward the future child
C) Duties to respect the future child's autonomy
D) All of the above

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following best expresses Sharon Duchesneau and Candy McCullough's defense of their decision to have a deaf child by design? They argued that

A) Deafness is not as disabling as blindness
B) Deafness is not a disability but a cultural trait
C) They have the right to procreative freedom
D) All of the above

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The principle of procreative freedom can be used by

A) Utilitarians
B) Libertarians
C) Both A and B
D) Neither A nor B

Question 5

Given genetic essentialism

A) Human DNA determines which animals are human
B) Different genetic origins necessarily result in different persons
C) If a child is prevented from birth now, the parents cannot have the same child later
D) All of the above

Question 6

Given the principle of reproductive freedom

A) People should make their own reproductive decisions
B) Human DNA determines which animals are human
C) Different genetic origins necessarily result in different persons
D) All of the above

Question 7

According to Chapter 15, which of the following can be invoked against the view that prenatal nonexistence is worse than existing with a disability that is not so severe as to render life not worth living?

A) The principle of reproductive freedom
B) Wrongful-life litigation
C) The Precautionary Principle
D) All of the above

Question 8

In Chapter 15, the principle of procreative freedom is associated with

A) Libertarianism
B) Utilitarianism
C) Both A and B
D) Neither A nor B

Question 9

Genetic engineering is sometimes called

A) 'Modern eugenics'
B) 'Early eugenics'
C) 'Reprogenetics'
D) All of the above

Question 10

The early eugenicist ideal was

A) To change nature for the sake of parents' reproductive freedom
B) To change nature for the "betterment" of humankind
C) To allow nature to take its course
D) All of the above

Question 11

Discuss Julian Savulescu's utilitarian justification of Sharon Duchesneau and Candy McCullough's decision to have a deaf child by design.

Question 12

What is the moral wrongness of selecting for the presence of a disability trait in an embryo according to Dena Davis's Autonomy Argument?

Question 13

What does it mean to say that reproductive freedom has presumptive primacy? Explain the libertarian and the utilitarian positions about that claim.

Question 14

Which methods for sex selection are now available? Among them, which are more morally controversial?

Question 15

Discus which features of human genetic enhancement, if any, set it apart from the early-20th century eugenics programs.