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Germ-Line Genetic Enhancement and Rawlsian Primary Goods
- Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 15, Number 1, March 2005
- pp. 39-56
- 10.1353/ken.2005.0007
- Article
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Genetic interventions raise a host of moral issues and, of its various species, germ-line genetic enhancement is the most morally contentious. This paper surveys various arguments against germ-line enhancement and attempts to demonstrate their inadequacies. A positive argument is advanced in favor of certain forms of germ-line enhancements, which holds that they are morally permissible if and only if they augment Rawlsian primary goods, either directly or by facilitating their acquisition.