BIO 205 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Nonperson
1 Apr 2020
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Document Summary
The non-identity problem and genetic harms the case of wrongful handicaps, . In this essay brock scrutinizes the claim that it would be wrong not to prevent devastating genetic diseases or disabilities in a child. Some have held that failing to prevent an impairment is wrong because the child would be better off if the impairment were prevented. But brock finds this view incoherent, arguing on logical grounds that a failure to prevent a serious disability cannot in fact wrong the child. He supports his idea by explaining that one of the only ways to prevent this child from having a handicap would be to not have the child at all, and that would definitely be worse off for the child. In this argument, if the impairment were to be prevented, the child would not even exist. Preventing the handicap would be denying the child a life even if it is a handicapped one.
