HS2610- Reading – Enhancement
Questions and Correct Answers.
what should we take into account when considering enhancements? - Answer - who is
affected by enhancement
- what values/ends the enhancement serves
enhancement is often used as to mark off...? - Answer moral boundaries within the realm of
biomedicine
enhancement is often contrasted with...? - Answer medically indicated treatments
explain enhancements as a boundary marker - Answer professionals may find that
enhancement is a useful boundary marker that sets a difference between what they are not
ethically obligated to do (enhancements) from their professional moral obligations (therapeutic
interventions)
do hospitals offer enhancement services? - Answer hospitals not obligated to offer
enhancement services, but they might for a profit (ex. plastic cosmetic surgery)
what is an example of the boundary marker between enhancements and therapy? - Answer
offering a beta blocker to a patient with heart disease, but not to an athlete who wants the drug
to increase intervals
how do enhancements help set biomedical research moral boundaries? - Answer making us
ask what risks to human subjects of research are permissible if there are no health benefits
how does enhancement act as a signpost warning? - Answer - acts as a moral signpost
warning that we are approaching unsettled moral territory
- does not settle moral questions, but alerts us that important values may be at stake
do non-biomedical enhancements exist? are they common? - Answer parents regularly seek
non-biomedical enhancements
ex. music lessons, tutoring, etc
what does calling something an enhancement do? - Answer tells us little about what our
moral attitude towards the intervention should be
, what do the intrinsic properties of an enhancement not tell us? - Answer don't tell us
whether it is ethically wrong, permissible or required
how should we ground our moral judgement? - Answer in an understanding of the goods
sought and the values prized in the sphere of human practices at issue
all therapy can be understood as...? - Answer enhancement
what is an example of an enhancement seen purely as a biomedical intervention? - Answer
vaccines
how do vaccines work as an enhancement? - Answer form of enhancement directed at the
usual aims of therapy: preserving health and preventing disease
how do some biomedical interventions work on a continuum between therapeutic intervetion
and enhancement? - Answer some biomedical interventions, operating through the same
physiological pathways, occupy a continuum between what appears to be a clearly
"therapeutic" application and an outright pursuit of enhancement
what is an example of a biomedical intervention on a continuum between therapeutic
intervetion and enhancement? - Answer hGH for children to make them taller (good for
children with biologically none, an enhancement only when average children take it)
biomedical enhancements can be achieved by... - Answer - a variety of means that are not all
medical
- ex. prayer, meditation
what must be served for an alteration to become an enhancement? - Answer some human
end or value must be served
what does enhance mean? - Answer to increase the worth or value of something
what does the goodness of an enhancement depend on? - Answer depends on the goodness
of the goal to which it is directed
what are some defence arguments for biomedical enhancements? - Answer - the
incoherency argument
- the line-drawing objection
- liberty argument
Questions and Correct Answers.
what should we take into account when considering enhancements? - Answer - who is
affected by enhancement
- what values/ends the enhancement serves
enhancement is often used as to mark off...? - Answer moral boundaries within the realm of
biomedicine
enhancement is often contrasted with...? - Answer medically indicated treatments
explain enhancements as a boundary marker - Answer professionals may find that
enhancement is a useful boundary marker that sets a difference between what they are not
ethically obligated to do (enhancements) from their professional moral obligations (therapeutic
interventions)
do hospitals offer enhancement services? - Answer hospitals not obligated to offer
enhancement services, but they might for a profit (ex. plastic cosmetic surgery)
what is an example of the boundary marker between enhancements and therapy? - Answer
offering a beta blocker to a patient with heart disease, but not to an athlete who wants the drug
to increase intervals
how do enhancements help set biomedical research moral boundaries? - Answer making us
ask what risks to human subjects of research are permissible if there are no health benefits
how does enhancement act as a signpost warning? - Answer - acts as a moral signpost
warning that we are approaching unsettled moral territory
- does not settle moral questions, but alerts us that important values may be at stake
do non-biomedical enhancements exist? are they common? - Answer parents regularly seek
non-biomedical enhancements
ex. music lessons, tutoring, etc
what does calling something an enhancement do? - Answer tells us little about what our
moral attitude towards the intervention should be
, what do the intrinsic properties of an enhancement not tell us? - Answer don't tell us
whether it is ethically wrong, permissible or required
how should we ground our moral judgement? - Answer in an understanding of the goods
sought and the values prized in the sphere of human practices at issue
all therapy can be understood as...? - Answer enhancement
what is an example of an enhancement seen purely as a biomedical intervention? - Answer
vaccines
how do vaccines work as an enhancement? - Answer form of enhancement directed at the
usual aims of therapy: preserving health and preventing disease
how do some biomedical interventions work on a continuum between therapeutic intervetion
and enhancement? - Answer some biomedical interventions, operating through the same
physiological pathways, occupy a continuum between what appears to be a clearly
"therapeutic" application and an outright pursuit of enhancement
what is an example of a biomedical intervention on a continuum between therapeutic
intervetion and enhancement? - Answer hGH for children to make them taller (good for
children with biologically none, an enhancement only when average children take it)
biomedical enhancements can be achieved by... - Answer - a variety of means that are not all
medical
- ex. prayer, meditation
what must be served for an alteration to become an enhancement? - Answer some human
end or value must be served
what does enhance mean? - Answer to increase the worth or value of something
what does the goodness of an enhancement depend on? - Answer depends on the goodness
of the goal to which it is directed
what are some defence arguments for biomedical enhancements? - Answer - the
incoherency argument
- the line-drawing objection
- liberty argument
