Genetically Edited Children and the Risks to Equality

Examining Heritable Genome Editing in the Light of Social Justice
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-5292-4953-8
Verlag: Bristol University Press

Buch, Englisch, 240 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Advances in heritable genome editing, such as with CRISPR-Cas9, promise to ensure that some possible future children with genetic disorders are not created — but at what cost to equality? If only certain kinds of people are brought into existence, do we risk undermining the very foundations of social justice?

This groundbreaking volume brings together leading philosophical, ethical and legal scholars to explore the implications of selecting future children.

Examining this urgent issue through the lens of equality, it challenges us to consider whether genetic selection of children aligns with the core principles of a fair and just society.

Autoren/Hrsg.

MacKellar, Calum

Andorno, Roberto

James, Matthew

Weitere Mitwirkende

Stammers, Trevor

Bellver Capella, Vicente

Playforth, Richard

Jones, David Albert

Matthews, Pia

Hasson, Katie

Suffian, Sandy

van Beers, Britta C.

Jacobs, Laura

Hurlbut, Ben

Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie

Fachgebiete

• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizin, Gesundheitswesen Medizinrecht, Gesundheitsrecht
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Bioethik, Tierethik
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Ethische Themen & Debatten: Wissenschaft, Technologie, Medizin
• Technische Wissenschaften Verfahrenstechnik | Chemieingenieurwesen | Biotechnologie Biotechnologie Medizinische Biotechnologie
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Ethik, Moralphilosophie
• Rechtswissenschaften Öffentliches Recht Medizin- und Gesundheitsrecht

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction - Calum MacKellar, Matthew James, and Roberto Andorno

Part One - Equality: Its Origins and Applications in International Law

2. The Origins of Equality - Matthew James

3. What makes human beings morally equal? -Roberto Andorno

4. Equality and the History of Eugenics -David A. Jones

5. Changing understandings of equality in the human rights debate on heritable genome editing - Britta van Beers

6. The Human Genome as Heritage of Humanity: Why Equality Matters - Laura E. Jacobs

Part Two - Would Heritable Genome Editing Undermine Equality in Society?

7. Does a ‘life unworthy of life’ actually exist in the case of very severe genetic disability? - Pia Matthews

8. Equality, Heritable Genome Editing and the Expressivist Argument - Calum MacKellar

9. The Dark Side of CRISPR: Its potential ability to “fix” people at the genetic level is a threat to those who are judged by society to be biologically inferior - Sandy Sufian and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson

10. Could Heritable Genome Editing be used without undermining equality? - Richard Playford

Part Three - Heritable Genome Editing and the Future

11. Equality of Access to Heritable Genome Editing - Trevor Stammers

12. Heritable Genome Editing and Intergenerational Equality -Vicente Bellver

13. Heritable Genome Editing, the Future of Equality, and the Need for Social Justice and Human Rights Perspectives - Katie Hasson

14. Free and Equal: The (il)liberal promise of human genome editing - J. Benjamin Hurlbut

15. Conclusion - Calum MacKellar, Matthew James and Roberto Andorno

Über Autor(innen)

James, Matthew
Matthew James is Associate Professor in Bioethics and Medical Law and the Director of the Centre for Bioethics and Emerging Technologies at St Mary’s University.

Andorno, Roberto
Roberto Andorno is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law and a Research Associate in the Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Zurich.

MacKellar, Calum
Calum MacKellar is the Director of Research of the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics in Edinburgh and a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Bioethics and Emerging Technologies at St Mary’s University.

Calum MacKellar is the Director of Research of the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics in Edinburgh and a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Bioethics and Emerging Technologies at St Mary’s University.

Roberto Andorno is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law and a Research Associate in the Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Zurich.

Matthew James is Associate Professor in Bioethics and Medical Law and the Director of the Centre for Bioethics and Emerging Technologies at St Mary’s University.