Rawlsian Decisionmaking and Genetic Engineering

Extract

Sara Goering has suggested that familiar Rawlsian ideas can be pressed into service to distinguish morally permissible from impermissible forms of genetic engineering. My project is to develop and to assess this idea. Specifically, I argue that, when developed, Goering's Rawlsian resources fail to distinguish permissible from impermissible genetic engineering.This paper was written with assistance from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. I am grateful to audience members at the 2005 meetings of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association in San Francisco and at the 2005 meetings of the Canadian Philosophical Association at the University of Western Ontario for helpful discussion. Special thanks go to Anita Ho and Chris MacDonald.