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Descrizione

"Con questa opera Francis Fukuyama afferma che i più grossi sviluppi scientifici non possono che venire dalle biotecnologie, e per questo motivo si domanda come la possibilità di modificare il comportamento umano possa influire sulla democrazia liberale. Ricostruendo l'idea di uno scopo ultimo dell'uomo, da Platone e Aristotele fino alle moderne utopie totalitarie, Fukuyama arriva a concludere che il prezzo estremo della rivoluzione biotecnologica, la manipolazione del DNA umano, avrà profonde e terribili conseguenze sul nostro ordine politico e su quello che è il suo presupposto fondamentale: l'uguaglianza di tutti gli uomini secondo natura e dunque di fronte alle istituzioni".

"Maybe we have a future after all: Our Posthuman Future is political historian Francis Fukuyama's reconsideration of his 1989 announcement that history had reached an end. He claims that science, particularly genome studies, offers radical changes, possibly more profound than anything since the development of language, in the way we think about human nature. He makes his case thoroughly and eloquently, rarely dipping into philosophical or critical jargon and consistently maintaining an informal tone.
Fukuyama is deeply concerned about the erosion of the foundations of liberal democracy under pressure from new concepts of humans and human rights, and most readers will find some room for agreement. Ultimately, he argues for strong international regulation of human biotechnology and thoughtfully disposes of the most compelling counterarguments. While readers might not agree that we're at risk of creating Huxley's Brave New World, it's hard to deny that things are changing quickly and that perhaps we ought to consider the changes before they're irrevocable." Rob Lightner, Amazon

"Fukuyama (The End of History and the Last Man; Trust) is no stranger to controversial theses, and here he advances two: that there are sound nonreligious reasons to put limits on biotechnology, and that such limits can be enforced. Fukuyama argues that "the most significant threat" from biotechnology is "the possibility that it will alter human nature and thereby move us into a `posthuman' stage of history." The most obvious way that might happen is through the achievement of genetically engineered "designer babies," but he presents other, imminent routes as well: research on the genetic basis of behavior; neuropharmacology, which has already begun to reshape human behavior through drugs like Prozac and Ritalin; and the prolongation of life, to the extent that society might come "to resemble a giant nursing home." Fukuyama then draws on Aristotle and the concept of "natural right" to argue against unfettered development of biotechnology. His claim is that a substantive human nature exists, that basic ethical principles and political rights such as equality are based on judgments about that nature, and therefore that human dignity itself could be lost if human nature is altered. Finally, he argues that state power, possibly in the form of new regulatory institutions, should be used to regulate biotechnology, and that pessimism about the ability of the global community to do this is unwarranted. Throughout, Fukuyama avoids ideological straitjackets and articulates a position that is neither Luddite nor laissez-faire. The result is a well-written, carefully reasoned assessment of the perils and promise of biotechnology, and of the possible safeguards against its misuse. (Apr.) Forecast: As the FSG publicity material notes, Fukuyama famously declared in the wake of communism's collapse that "the major alternatives to liberal democracy" had "exhausted themselves." This less dramatic assessment should still win a hearing, if not among scientists then among a public concerned about science's growing power." Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Commenti

Uno dei principali manifesti del bioluddismo americano, a cura del profeta della "fine della storia".

Keywords

bioconservatorismo, bioluddismo, neoluddismo, postumanismo, transumanismo, politica, filosofia, biopolitica, bioetica human biotechnology, human specificity, human genetic engineering, biotech revolution, preimplantation diagnosis, genetic causation, procreative liberty, cultural animals, median heights, Human Genome Project, Friedrich Nietzsche, James Watson, National Bioethics Advisory Commission, New York, Ronald Dworkin, Environmental Protection Agency, Paul Ehrlich, Peter Singer ,