Better Than Human Buchanan Summary

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In his book “Better than Human”, Allen Buchanan explores the issues that stems from the highly controversial topic of biomedical enhancements. Buchanan aims to present his view on why biomedical enhancements should be embraced and is actually not much different from the enhancements that we already have presently. The main arguments posed by Buchanan include the ethical issues that arise from allowing biomedical enhancements are not novel and can be tackled (via regulation – legally or biologically, if we want to) and tackling the issue of what is seen as “natural” and how “natural” does not equate to optimal. Additionally, biomedical enhancements – a subset of biomedical science – generate new knowledge that can equip us with the capacity …show more content…

Biologically, it can mean our “basic biological makeup”. Aristotle holds the view that it is “something permanent and universal in all humans”, in which losing any of these “essential characteristics” will rob us of our humanity. Buchanan raises the point that UGM, since it is not morally selective, is unlikely to preserve the parts of “human nature” that are valued most by us. Additionally, “nature” can also be defined culturally, since culture has since become very important for “defining who we are” and “how we differ” from other animals. Biomedical enhancement can also generate new knowledge to aid us in self-improvement, which is touched on by Buchanan in Chapter 7. He believes that any “sane” approach to the risks of biomedical enhancements must be “knowledge-sensitive”, which reflects and encourages the “growth of knowledge”. Not only does this knowledge enable us to grasp and apply the concept of biomedical engineering in a “scientifically informed” way, it can also go a long way in future developments that can improve both our quality of life and perhaps a breakthrough in the knowledge …show more content…

He took into consideration the viewpoints of those who proposed differing ideas and structured some of his arguments around them. Additionally, he structured his argument in an organized way, starting with an overview, followed by the definition and discussion of the main concepts and then following up with his arguments. However, Buchanan focused mainly on the ethical aspects of biomedical engineering, where his arguments are all structured towards proving his stance to allow and embrace biomedical enhancements. It would be significantly better, though, if Buchanan elaborated more on the other philosophical issues that arise from this topic, which would have contributed greatly to make a stronger

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