Does Genetic Engineering Endanger Human Freedom?
Adam Wolfson: In The Republic, Socrates suggests, tongue firmly in cheek, that rulers should be bred scientifically, just as dogs, cocks, and horses are. The proposal was meant to be ludicrous. Yet today we are seriously debating whether a good way of making a horse is also a good way of making a man. The taboo against manipulation of the human species through genetics, in place since the Nazi genocide, is breaking down. Even conservative publications like National Review and the Wall Street Journal have run articles defending aspects of the new eugenics. There are many reasons for this breakdown, the most benign of which are the rapid advances in genetic science. The mapping of the human genome last year and numerous other breakthroughs…
