Genetic Ethical Issues:Haberma’s Discourse Ethics Perspectives

With the development of Genetic Engineering, we gradually explore and realize the secret of life. Genetic Engineering not only offers the approach for us to create high yield and disease-resistant crops and better quality species of livestock, but also brings possibility to find out gene sequence to cure inherit diseases and cancers with intention to make human more healthy and longeval. However, it comes with lots of contradictory and controversy even it seems brings bright future and developed smoothly. Because Genetic Engineering needs lots of tests on human embryo to uncover life secret,which will violate common morals and ethics principles and badly influence Ethics.There are three responses in Ethics to a series of ethical issues and challenge which are brought up by modern biotechnology. First, taking measures to research genetic intervention in the path of the debate over abortion. Secondly, responsibility ethics brought by Hans Jonas, and thirdly, discourse ethics by Jurgen Habermas. For those three responses, it comes out with most practical feasibility and effectiveness for discourse ethics to solve genetic ethical issues.The intention of the master dissertation is to discuss what kind of resolution for discourse ethics to solve genetic ethical issues and the feasibility and validity of the solution. According to the theory of communicative action, Habermas converted Kant’s deontological ethics perspective from "I" into "We", and developed out discourse ethics to provide platform to solve ethical issues in modern society. Facing the ethical issues raised by genetic technology, Habermas based on discourse ethics and checked genetic technology development from "the perspective of a future present". Meanwhile, he found out that genetic technology especially with genetic measures to enhance embryo genetic interventions blurred the intuitive distinction between the grown and the made, damaged the foundation of ethical self-understanding of the species and undermined human’s equality and free dialogue basis, even it would produce a new kind of interpersonal relationship which would totally destroy the basis of ethics in modern times. Therefore, Habermas proposed that we have to draw a line between negative eugenics and enhancing eugenics, in order to make genetic technology would only and must be used on clinical treatment.Discourse ethics was established on the basis of equality and free association between human. But for genetic intervention, due to embryo whose genetic makeup was programmed was unable to talk and without sociality, it could not meet discourse and universal principles of discourse ethics. However, Habermas did not negate the effectiveness of genetic intervention for the people of future could not participate in dialogues; he just discussed this issue from "the perspective of a future present". The paper still believes that Habermas’s analysis is reasonable in theory. It is an effective way to resolve genetic ethical issues with equal and free dialogues. In future perspective, we would be able to engage in dialogues with the people of future and foresee the attitude of future society to treat genetic ethical issues, and in this way we will be clear know what to do today.With further development of genetic engineering, genetic ethical issues would become more important in the field of applied ethics. The discussion of Habermas about those issues with discourse ethics not only maintains ethical principle of freedom and equality-based basis in modern times, but also inspires a good new way for us to think on and treat genetic ethical issues, so it deserves widespread attention.