Social justice and genetic engineering : what Plato might have said

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South African Society for Greek Philosophy and the Humanities
Botha, C.

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Volume Title

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South African Society for Greek Philosophy and the Humanities

Abstract

In this paper, I explore the concepts of self-realisation, health and justice as they specifically pertain to human genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is a fledgling, but rapidly developing set of technologies, whose application will have a dramatic impact upon man and his conception of himself. It is for this reason that I feel it is important that we decide whether its use will be a just or unjust practice within our society, before its envisaged applications are made available for our use on a large scale. I believe that a return to Plato's ideas on justice could serve as a valuable guide in an investigation of this contemporary conundrum. I attempt to apply Plato's nderstanding of self-realisation, health and justice to the emerging technology of genetic engineering, and come to a conclusion about the just application of this advance within contemporary society.

Description

Appears in Phronimon,Volume 2, Number 1(2000)

Keywords

Emerging technology, Contemporary society

Sustainable Development Goals

Citation

Botha, C 2000, 'Social justice and genetic engineering: what Plato might have said', Phronimon, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 30-40.