道德增强与人的自由——自主原则的视角

Moral Enhancement and Human Freedom:From the Perspective of Autonomy Principle

道德生物增强构想通过生物科技途径对人的情感或认知能力进行修正,从而达到道德增强的目的。该构想遭遇到威胁人类自由的诘难,由之引发了辩护与质疑的观念交锋。文章概观了道德生物增强的途径以及争议双方的论证,指出这一诘难的真正问题在于澄清自由观念的自主原则,亦即论证道德生物增强能否摆脱行为操纵之诘难。通过对层次欲望理论以及"理由回应理论"等自由理论的分析表明,道德生物增强会破坏自由所要求的自主原则。

The conception of moral enhancement is aimed at enhancing the human moral capacities by means of using biotechnology to modulate the moral dispositions and cognitive abilities.But this conception has been criticized for undermining human freedom and give rise to a debate on the issue.This paper summarized the discussion in which reasons are advanced for and against this issue and points out that the core problem of this issue lies in clarifying the principle of autonomy which is required for freedom conception,namely,clarifying whether moral enhancement could shake off the parlance for behavior control.Analysis of freedom theories such as the hierarchical theory and reasons-responsive theory and other theories shows that moral enhancement could undermine the principle of autonomy which is required by human freedom.