Fabricated Man: The Ethics of Genetic Control

Title: Fabricated Man: The Ethics of Genetic Control
ABP identifier: ABP-W-0016
Creator: Paul Ramsey
Date: 1970
Type: Book
Description: Written as genetics and reproductive technologies were becoming subjects of public controversy, Fabricated Man asks what limits should govern deliberate efforts to shape future human beings. Ramsey treats artificial insemination, genetic selection, cloning, and related interventions as moral problems involving parenthood, responsibility, and the integrity of human procreation.
Intellectual stream: Theological ethics; Boundary expansion
Verification status: Verified
Evidence confidence: High
Historical significance: Written as genetics and reproductive technologies were becoming subjects of public controversy, Fabricated Man asks what limits should govern deliberate efforts to shape future human beings. Ramsey treats artificial insemination, genetic selection, cloning, and related interventions as moral problems involving parenthood, responsibility, and the integrity of human procreation. The book belongs to the early theological phase of American bioethics, but its importance is not confined to theology. It helped establish genetic control as a field in which technical possibility did not settle moral permissibility. Its arguments also show how early bioethics joined concern about individual choices to questions about the kind of society biomedical power might produce.