Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-20-2019

Publication Title

European Journal for Philosophy of Religion

Volume

11

Abstract

In The Future of Human Nature, Jürgen Habermas raises the question of whether the embryonic genetic diagnosis and genetic modification threatens the foundations of the species ethics that underlies current understandings of morality. While morality, in the normative sense, is based on moral interactions enabling communicative action, justification, and reciprocal respect, the reification involved in the new technologies may preclude individuals to uphold a sense of the undisposability (Unverfügbarkeit) of human life and the inviolability (Unantastbarkeit) of human beings that is necessary for their own identity as well as for reciprocal relations. Engaging with liberal bioethics and Catholic approaches to bioethics, the article clarifies how Habermas’ position offers a radical critique of liberal autonomy while maintaining its postmetaphysical stance. The essay argues that Habermas’ approach may guide the question of rights of future generations regarding germline gene editing. But it calls for a different turn in the conversation between philosophy and theology, namely one that emphasizes the necessary attention to rights violations and injustices as a common, postmetaphysical starting point for critical theory and critical theology alike.

Issue

4

Publisher Name

European Journal for Philosophy of Religion

Pages

61-86

Comments

Author Posting © European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of European Journal for Philosophy of Religion for personal use, not for redistribution. The article was published in European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Volume 11, Issue 4, December 2019, https://doi.org/10.24204/ejpr.v11i4.3037

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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