new book by john harris

New book by John Harris

Here is a surprisingly sympathetic article in The Times about British

philosophical bioethicist John Harris, who has a new book out:

Enhancing Evolution: The Ethical Case for Making Better People. I say

"surprisingly" because Harris takes a very strong pro-enhancement view

that is likely to frighten many people.

I'm not going to say much about the book here. I've read it once

already, but I need to do so again before I can comment in any cogent

way. One problem is that it picks up arguments from previous

publications by Harris, some of which were already familiar to me.

This is inevitable when a prolific and high-profile working scholar

brings out a book every few years, but it can get a bit confusing

after a while remembering what he said where. Still, it's helpful to

have a lot of the arguments on related topics now consolidated in one

place. I am broadly on his side of this debate, of course, and his

views in earlier books and other publications have influenced my own

approach to bioethics; I'm certainly not batting for the same team as

Leon Kass, Michael Sandel, Bill McKibben, George Annas, Jurgen

Habermas, and the rest of the bioconservative line-up - all of whom

Harris criticises strongly and tellingly. However, I'll wait until I

have a chance to give the book a careful second reading before I

really try to tease out its strengths and weaknesses.

The main thing to note is that Enhancing Evolution is now out and

about, and getting some publicity - and that it is instantly one of

the most important contributions to the enhancement debate. Anyone who