基因技术的“自然”伦理意义——兼答徐宗良教授

The Ethical Meaning of Nature in Genetic Technology——A Response to Professor Xu Zongliang's Comment

这里所说的“自然”,是在道德哲学的意义上规定和诠释的。“自然家庭”和自然家庭中诞生的“自然人”是伦理、道德和道德哲学的始点。“自然”是人及其存在的原初状态或曰罗尔斯式的“无知之幕”,其最具哲学意义的本质是不可选择性。基因技术不仅极大地扩张了人的行为选择能力,而且将这种选择性推到了文明的底线。这是基因技术提出的最严峻和最深刻的伦理挑战。技术必然性与伦理合理性之间存在着“乐观的紧张”的辩证互动关系。为此,在研究视野和研究方法上必须进行两次转换,由对基因技术的伦理关切,到基因伦理学的建构;由基因伦理学的研究,到道德哲学的洞察和把握。它们在方法论上的殊异,也正是对话双方的学术分歧之所在。

Nature for the purpose of this article is defined and interpreted from the perspective of moral philosophy. It is taken as the original state of human beings or Ralwsian veil of ignorance which one cannot choose. Families of nature and individuals of nature born in them are the starting points of ethics, morality and moral philosophy. The genetic technology has expanded human ability to choose and has pushed it to the bottom line of civilization. This has been the most critical profound ethical challenge brought forth by the genetic technology. The law of technology and the rational of ethics exist in dialectic interactions of optimistic tensions. Therefore, with regard to research perspective and methodology, two changes have to be made： one is the change from the ethical concern upon genetic technology to the construction of genetic ethics; the other is the change from the study of genetic ethics to the contemplation and perception of moral philosophy. It is their different methodologies that I hold a different academic view with Professor XuZongliang.