In this thesis, I examine the extent to which moral enhancement, the biomedical alteration of an
individual’s disposition to act according to good or bad motives, will in uence his capacity for selfgovernance.
Following a discussion of the salient features of moral enhancement, a plausible list of
conditions against which to measure the compatibility of moral enhancement with personal autonomy
is expounded. e core elements of moral enhancement are weighed against these conditions in order
to establish the ways in which these core elements are compatible with the conditions of personal
autonomy.
I argue that moral enhancement need not lead to a diminishment of personal autonomy, provided it
serves merely as a mechanism to help an agent overcome the deterministic limitations that prevent him
from bringing his lower-order desires into conformity with the higher-order desires that he has arrived
at through independent, thoughtful deliberation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/13185 |
| Date | 03 October 2013 |
| Creators | Venter, Lucas |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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