On Human Nature: Anthropological, Biological, and Philosophical Foundations PDF
Preview On Human Nature: Anthropological, Biological, and Philosophical Foundations
Ethics of Science and Technology Assessment 15 Schriftenreihe der Europäischen Akademie zur Erforschung von Folgen wissenschaftlich-technischer Entwicklungen Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler GmbH Series Editor: Carl Friedrich Gethmann Armin Grunwald · Matthias Gutmann Editors Eva M. Neumann-Held On Human Nature Anthropological, Biological, and Philosophical Foundations Wissenschaftsethik und Technikfolgenbeurteilung Band 15 Schriftenreihe der Europäischen Akademie zur Erforschung von Folgen wissenschaftlich-technischer Entwicklungen Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler GmbH herausgegeben von earl Friedrich Gethmann Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH Armin Grunwald . Mathias Gutmann Eva M. Neumann-Held (Eds.) On Human Nature Anthropologieal, Biological, and Philosophical Foundations Springer Reihenherausgeber Professor Dr. earl hiedrich Gethmann Europäische Akademie GmbH WilhelmstraGe 56, 53474 Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. Cermany Bandherausgeber Professor Dr. Armin Grunwald Institut für Technikfolgenabschätzung und Systemanalyse Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe Postt~lCh 3640, 7602\ Karlsruhe, Germany Dr. Dr. Mathias Gutmann Institut für Philosophie, Universitiit Marburg ßlitzweg \6,35039 Marburg, Germany Dr. Eva M. Neumann-Held Institut für Philosophie, Universit:it Marburg Blitzweg \A, 35039 Marburg, Ccrmany Redaktion Friedcrike Wütschcr Europäische Akademie CmbH Wilhelmstrage 56, 5.>-174 Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweder, Cermany I >ie I kul..., .... hl' Blhliollll'k -(:IP-Fillhl..'it'i.lUfn.lhllll.' ()11 l1ulll,ln Ilature : ;lJllhropologic.d, hiologiL.11. ,lIld phiIO.'iophiL.d fOllnd,lliolls Ic,b. l\r111il1 (;rtlllwald . Bcrhn; I kiddhl'rg: ~l.'W I'ork ; ItUCL'l0l1.1 ; I-Iongkong; 1.0l1d0l1 ; .\1.lil.lI1d : P.lris; '!(lkio : Springer, 2()()2 I \Vi",Sl'IL\,Jl;lft.\ethik lind 'lcdlllikt()lgl'llhl'urtl'illing ; Bd. 1)) Thi .... work is .... uhkct In copyright. All rights an: n.'sl..'rvl'd. whL'thcr thc whotc or parI or Ilw 1ll.ltL'ri;d is ((\lll"l'rnnl. spn.:illcllly thc rights of tr.Ill..,!atioll, rcprillting. rcust.' of il1l1stratioll"" rL'cit.ltiOIl, hro,Hk,lstillg, n:prodw::tioll Oll IlliLT(l film (lr in olhcr way\, lInd storage in dat,1 hanks. Duplicltion of this plihliL:.ltiol1 or p.lflS IhL'fCllf is l'L'rmittcd onl) t11l~kr thc provisions of the (;eflll<ln Copyright Llw of Septemher 9, 19h,), in its nlrrellt version, anti pL'rlllissioll rur u ... c 1ll11 .... t ,llw.IYS he ohuined from Springef-Verlag. \'iol.1I ions Jre liahk for Pro"'CL 1I1iOJl ,let lIntk'r l ;crIJl.11l (:op~'right 1..1\\'. ISBN 978-3-642-50025-1 ISBN 978-3-642-50023-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-50023-7 http://www.spri ngcr.dc (j Springer-Verl.lg Ikrlin I-kidclhcrg !()O! Ursprünglich erschienen bei Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York 2002. The llse of general descriptive nal1le~, rcgistered names, tradcmark...., eIe in Ihis puhlici.ltioll does not imply, L'V('11 in the absence of a spccific statel1lCllt, that such narnes ..l fe l'xernpt from the fekvant protectivL' bws ,llld rq.~lll.llinns anti therefofe ffcl' für gcncrJlusc. CUVt·rI.lYOUt: dc'hlik, Berlin Typesetting: nicllleyers satz, Tlihingen SPIN: IOHS77X4 Printet! on acid-frce paper 0213020 h LI - ') "'" J I () Europäische Akademie zur Erforschung von Folgen wissenschaftlich-technischer Entwicklungen Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler GmbH The Europäische Akademie The Europäische Akademie zur Erforschung von Folgen wissenschaftlich-technischer Entwicklungen GmbH is concerned with the scientific study of consequences of scientific and technological advance for the individual and social life and for the natural environment. Thc Europäische Akademie intends to contribute to a rational way of society of dealing with the consequences of scientific and technological developments. This aim is mainly realised in the development of recommendations for options to act, from the point of view of long-term societal acceptance. The work of the Europäische Akademie mostly takes place in temporary interdis ciplinary project groups, whose members are recognised scientists from European universities. Overarching issues, e.g. from the fields of Technology Assessment or EthiC'i of Science, are dealt with by the staff of the Europäische Akademie. The Series The series "Wissenschaftsethik und Technikfolgenbeurteilung" (Ethics of Science and Technology Assessment) serves to publish the results of the work of the Euro päische Akademie. It is published by the Academy's director. ßesides the final results of the project groups the series includes volumes on general questions of ethics of science and technology assessment as weil as other mO'1ographic studies. Foreword Modern molecular technology in the so-called life sciences (biology as weil as medicine) allows today to approach and manipulate living beings in ways and to an extent wh ich not too long aga seemed Utopian. The empirical progress promises further and even more radical developments in the future, and it is at least often claimed that this kind of research will have tremendeous etfects on and for all of humanity, for example in the areas of food production, transplantation medicine (including stem cell research and xenotransplantation), (therapeutic) genetic manipulation and (cell-line) cloning (of cell lines or tissues), and of biodiversity conservation-strategies. At least in Western, industrialized countries the development of modern sciences led to a steady increase of human health, well-being and quality of life. However, with the move to make the human body itself an object of scientific research interests, the respective scientific descriptions resulted in changes in the image that human beings have of themselves. Scientific progress has led to a startling loss of traditional human self-understanding. This development is in contrast to an under standing according to which the question what it means to be "human" is treated in the realm of philosophy. And indeed, a closer look reveals that - without denying the value of scientitic progress - science cannot replace the philosophical approach to anthropological questions. On the other hand, however, philosophical analysis cannot and should not dismiss knowledge gained by empirical approaches of life sciences. What is needed is an interdisciplinary dialogue. The organization of such a platform was the goal when the Europäische Akademie organized an int.::rnational and interdisciplinary symposium on the topie "On Human Nature - Biological Approaches and Philosophical Renections" (March 15-18, 1999). Many speakers of this conference decided to participate in the publication of the present book. Ilike to thank all authors for their contributions. Furthermore, my thanks goes to the editors for their eommitment in initiating and organizing this project. The book series "Wissenschaftsethik und Technikfolgenbeurteilung" of the Europäische Akademie is devoted primarily to the publication of the work-reports of the project groups, of the proceedings of conferences organized by the academy, of works on the foundations of ethics, the ethics of science, and other issues related to the work of the Europäische Akademie. I wish this book that it may find attention in the relevant circles of academic disciplines, and that it may inspire the needed further research and renection on "Human Nature". Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, September 200 I earl Friedrieh Gethmann Preface The industrial revolution of the 19th century wh ich was followed by aseries of cultural and societal upheavals marked the beginning of fundamental changes in our understanding of ourselves as "human beings". It was accompanied by philo sophical approaches to anthropology. However, the methodological shortcomings of "philosophical anthropology" soon became visible, and now, at the start of a new millennium, it seems that the authority for supplying explanations of human nature has shifted completely from philosophy and humanities to the natural sciences. Not only in the public mind, it is particularly medicine and biology - here the cognitive sciences and genetic approaches - that are assumed to supply an almost unlimited access to "objective facts" on human evolution, history, and existence. In contrast, the technical success and the prospect of future technological developments in the biosciences are raising many ethical questions with regard to the ongoing "tech nicalization" of humans. At a closer look, however, it becomes apparent that the treatment of those ethical questions depends on a clarification of the underlying anthropological assumptions and a methodological examination oftheir validity. In other words: It might be time for philosophy to regain its authority to contribute to the questions on "human nature". But how can this be approached? Although it is clear that such approaches cannot be developed ignoring the assumptions, theories and empirical results of the natural sciences, it is also evident that the natural sciences are not determined by a single set of such assumptions, theories and results. On the contrary, there are diverse theoretical frameworks available, which might very well be based on and lead to different anthropological assumptions. Therefore, to approach the question of human nature in face of the ongoing technicalization of human nature, it is necessary to first initiate communication between relevant disciplines in the natural sciences and philosophy. At a time when all three of us were still members of the scientific statT of the Europäische Akademie, we had the pleasure of having the opportunity to explore these issues by making them the topic of the 1999 spring symposium titled "On Human Nature. Biological Approaches and Philosophical Reflections". Many researchers accepted our invitation to this interdisciplinary and international con ference, and it was not least due to the active participation not only of the speakers but also of a very interested academic audience that the symposium became a platform for discussions that bridged the usual disciplinary boundaries, and the discipline-typical problem-solving strategies. This conference inspired us to put together a collection of papers on the topic of "Human Nature". However, the conference also showed us that we tried to cover almost too many issues. We decided that for the book the framework of topics X Preface should bc narrower allowing particular topics to be treated in more detail. [n order to reach this goal it was only possible to sekct some of the speakers from the conference on the basis of the topics that they had presented. These speakers were to elaborate and extend their presentations as contributions to our book project. To cover more aspects related to the chosen topics we approached several additional researchers with different disciplinary backgrounds. Some of them had participated in the discussions at the conference, but did not have the opportunity to express their viewpoints in a presentation; some were not conference participants at all. All potential contributors were asked to write papers in wh ich they used their discipli nary backgrounds to elaborate on particular points with view on an interdisciplinary readership. Participation in such an interdisciplinary book project is not a usual task, and therefore we were (and are) delighted that most of the researchers we approached agreed to our request. All articIes were subjected to an internal review procedure, and we wish to thank the authors for their wiIIingness to consider and (often) to use our critical remarks and recommendations. [n a sense this book can be viewed as the manifestation of the presentation and discussion of arguments between different representatives of philosophy and of the natural sciences. In vicw of the main topics the articles are grouped into three sections. In the first section the ongoing technicalization of human nature is critically viewed in three articIes. Gernot Böhme points out that although traditional European philosophy gener ated vanous dichotomies (such as nature and culture or nature and techno[ogy), which articulated the self-understanding of human beings, all traditions have in common that human nature has remained an unrenouncable topos. For the first time in history this has changed. Böhme wams that modern medical and life sciences threaten the unrenouncability of human nature, and that the human body itself is becoming a subject of technologization, wh ich in itself is a threat to human dignity. He proposes a critical theory of human nature that makes it possible to resist to the unrestrained technologization of human being. [n contrast to Böhme, Frederic Ferre views the technicalization of the human body as not necessarily undermining human nature and human dignity. Within the framework of personalistic organicism, Ferre argues for a specific grade of aware ness as an essential constituent of human nature. This constituent is not threatened by technical interventions, as Ferre shows by discussing the example of human cloning. Nevertheless, Ferre, too, wams against the application of such modern technologies because the "modern world is not morally or metaphysically ready to receive cIoned persons into our midst". Human self-perception in its relationship to the development of natural sciences is also the topic of Christoph Rehmann Sutter's contribution. He refutes a particular kind of genome metaphysics, which views the human genome as a program oflfor human nature. As an alternative he suggests a "systemic theory of DNA" and discusses and evaluates so me anthro pological implications of this approach. All three contributions use a particular viewpoint to describe and presuppose specific biological knowledge in order to evaluate the possible ethical and philo sophical impact of technological orientation of life sciences on the modern image Preface XI of human beings. As Rehmann-Sutter began already in his article. biologieal ur knowledge itself is the subjeet of the biotheoretieal considerations in the articles the second seetion. From these it will become evident that in biosciences one can find diverse, often opposing approaches toward (and models for) the investigation of human nature, which have at least the potential to result in different interpre tations. In Hans-Rainer Duneker's analysis human beings are described as the result of an ongoing process of evolutionary integration and differentiation of several systemic levels. Their uniqueness is expressed by the emergence of social and cultural abilities that transcend the level of biological reduction. Following this comprehensive overview the structure of biological descriptions is exemplified in the treatment of neurobiological and cognitive sciences on the one hand, and theories of genetics and developmental biology on the other hand. Introducing the concepts of cognitive research Ernst Pöppel presents empirical evidence for his approach to model conscious activity on the basis of fundamental logistir.,· and content jimctions. He points out the significance of a highly preserved temporal operating platform providing "three seconds" as the "singular states of being conscious". Olaf Breidbach focuses on another important aspect of cognitive processing. Following the concept of internal representation, he introduces an artifieial device that fulfills the criterion of a eomplete assoeiative system. He argues that this device serves as powerful tool for the understanding of the functional organisation of an associative system established in the vertebrate brain. Peter Janich emphasises the necessity to constitute sciences within everyday lifeworld practices (such as cooperation and communication). This allows him to rccognize the usefulness of natural scientitic description for certain contexts (c.g. the cultural determination of cognition, validity criteria and functions in coping with life). However, on the basis of a methodological viewpoint hc criticises the significance of empirical and theoretical approaches used within neurological and cognitive sciences for their claim to supply justified and justifiable images of humans. With the analysis of the genotype - phenotype relationship in Ulrich Wolf's contribution we enter the field of genetic and developmental research. From the field of human genetics Wolf presents empirical evidence that not even so-called monofactorial diseases can be explained without reference to epigenetic factors. The limitations of genetic explanations are also the subject in the articles by Scott Gilbert and Eva M. Neumann-Held. Developmental biologist Gilbert dcplores certain images of genetic determinism (and genetic centrism), which are being communicated to the public in the name of developmental biology. Using three examples he scrutinizes and refutes the empirical basis of genetic determinism. This criticism is taken up and expanded in the contribution of Neumann-Held. She contrasts genetic centrism with alternative approaches, and shows that the usual reference to the causal explanatory power of genes is insufficient for the description of developmental processes. From this point of view the assumption that human nature is explicable in terms of the human genome is rejected. Furthermore, tradi tional dichotomies, such as the distinction between "nature" and "nurture" become increasingly questionable in the light of alternatives to genetic centrism. This is the main focus of Susan Oyama's article, wh ich treats this problem in the framework of her Developmental S,vstems Approach.
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