Enhancement

why we should distinguish anthropotechnics from medicine

Jerome Goffette

pp. 38-59

in: Simone Bateman, Sylvie Allouche, Jerome Goffette, Michela Marzano (eds), Inquiring into human enhancement, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015

Abstract

"Enhancement", "improvement", "augmentation", "alteration", "moulding": such words, applied to humankind, cannot but bring to mind visions of science fiction scenarios. In fact, as the American President's Council of Bioethics noted in Beyond Therapy ten years ago, human enhancement is already a widespread phenomenon in today's societies. It is thus not surprising that studies, symposiums and projects on this topic are multiplying¹ (Missa and Perbal, 2009; Coenen, 2009). And what seems to emerge as a key issue in these debates can be summarised in one question: is it possible to distinguish between enhancement and medicine, between care that goes "beyond therapeutic uses' and traditional medical care, between a desire to be "better than well" (Elliott, 2003) and a desire limited to maintaining "just health" (Daniels, 2008)? And if possible, should we act on that distinction?