The Future of Human Nature

Recent developments in biotechnology and genetic research areraising complex ethical questions concerning the legitimate scopeand limits of genetic intervention. As we begin to contemplate thepossibility of intervening in the human genome to prevent diseases,we cannot help but feel that the human species might soon be ableto take its biological evolution in its own hands. 'PlayingGod' is the metaphor commonly used for thisself-transformation of the species, which, it seems, might soon bewithin our grasp. In this important new book, Jürgen Habermas - themost influential philosopher and social thinker in Germany today- takes up the question of genetic engineering and itsethical implications and subjects it to careful philosophicalscrutiny. His analysis is guided by the view that geneticmanipulation is bound up with the identity and self-understandingof the species. We cannot rule out the possibility that knowledgeof one's own hereditary factors may prove to be restrictivefor the choice of an individual's way of life and mayundermine the symmetrical relations between free and equal humanbeings. In the concluding chapter - which was delivered as alecture on receiving the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade for2001 - Habermas broadens the discussion to examine thetension between science and religion in the modern world, a tensionwhich exploded, with such tragic violence, on September 11th.