Download Introduction to theoretical and applied ethics

Milder forms of autism:
between cognition and mood
Laurens Landeweerd
University of Maastricht (Nl), dept of Health Ethics and
Philosophy
enhance
University of Maastricht
Department of Health
Ethics and Philosophy
Thesis:
Prenatal genetic diagnosis and the
problem of a liberal eugenics
• Problematic nature of the absence of
‘identity’ in med. ethics (a general neoliberalist tendency)
• Problematic nature of intergenerational
justice on an individual scale
Sheffield institute of
biotechnology law and
ethics (SIBLE)
MA in Biotechnology
Law and Ethics, course
in Moral Theories
University of Bristol
Centre for ethics in medicine
EC-funded project in teaching and research of ethics of
biotechnologies
Follow-up of BioTethics, only on teaching
BioTethics – an introduction
Landeweerd, Houdebine, ter Meulen (eds.) 2nd
edition. Ponteborboli, Florence, 2006.
No image available
Enhance
ENHANCING HUMAN CAPACITIES:
ETHICS, REGULATION AND EUROPEAN POLICY
www.enhanceproject.org
Coordinator: Ruud ter Meulen
Enhancement of:
• Cognition
• Life span
• Mood
• Physical performance
University of Maastricht: mood
enhancement
• My first association:
– Using drugs that were originally developed for
therapy of depression to go beyond normal
functioning
– Not from (clinically) depressed to happy, but
fro existentially troubled to okay
•
Perceived weakness:
– Presupposes one line from clinically depressed to normal happy functioning. Mood
is wider
• What about ‘clinically happy’ (the manic phase in manic depression)?
• Should we solve problems of life through medication?
• Can one cure ‘life’?
•
More tantalizing case: tension between happiness, social environment,
cognitive advantages.
But: contra-intuitive case: Asperger
syndrome (and other mild forms of
autism)
Symptoms
• lack of empathy
• average to high intelligence
• difficulties with social interaction (often leading
to social isolation
But also
• a high ability to concentrate on one thing
• Unusual talents or ‘genius’
on specific areas
Can one prevent or cure autism?
• Medicine:
– Early experiments with marihuana and LSD
• Change of perception and social behavior
• Genetic selection
– 9 out of 10 times, twins both exhibit the condition:
• Likely hereditary nature of autistic disorders/conditions
• Pre-selection and in utero germ line intervention might
theoretically be feasible
Mild autism spectrum disorders
social disability or cognitive super-ability
•
•
•
•
Hyperlexia: speech disability, reading super ability
Pervasive developmental disorder: social and communicative disorder
High functioning autism: talentedness on specific area but social dysfunction
Asperger syndrome: talentedness on specific area but awkwardness
Classical pre-definition picture
Geeks / nerds
Some talents associated with mild
autism spectrum disorders:
•
•
•
•
Musical talents
Mathematics/physics (exact sciences)
Logics/philosophy
IT / computers
People that allegedly suffer(ed) a
form of autism:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Isaac Newton
Bela Bartok
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Salvador Dali
Bill Gates
Bill Evans
Andy Warhol
Albert Einstein
5.633
Wo in der Welt ist ein metaphysisches Subjekt zu merken?
Du sagst, es verhält sich hier ganz, wie mit Auge und Gesichtsfeld.
Aber das Auge siehst du wirklich 'nicht'.
Und nichts 'am Gesichtsfeld' läßt darauf schließen, daß es von einem
Auge gesehen wird.
5.6331Das Gesichtsfeld hat nämlich nicht etwa eine solche Form:
5.64Hier sieht man, daß der Solipsismus, streng durchgeführt, mit
dem reinen Realismus zusammenfällt. Das Ich des Solipsismus
schrumpft zum ausdehnungslosen Punkt zusammen, und es bleibt die
ihm koordinierte Realität
Being / having traits
• Helmut Plessner:
•
Martin Heidegger:
• Husserl:
• Kierkegaard:
nature of human existence
as eccentric positionality
ontological differentiation
between oneself as a being,
and oneself as having a
relation to that being from
within that being
anti-psychologism /antireductionism
the self as a relationship of
oneself to one-self that
although taking place within
oneself, is based in one’s
relationship to the other
person(s)
“Autism isn't something a person has, or a
"shell" that a person is trapped inside.
There's no normal child hidden behind the
autism. […] It is not possible to separate the
autism from the person - and if it were
possible, the person you'd have left would
not be the same person you started with”
“I do not wish to be 'cured' from my autism,
and many autistic persons who are able to
communicate their feelings, say the same
thing […] If it were possible to remove
autism from a person, you would get a
different person. A person who, perhaps, fits
in better with his surroundings. Maybe a
person who abides by the rules of society
more. A person who does not stick out. That
person will look identical to the previous
one, but will be a different person
nonetheless.”
So, is one allowed to create a super
genius on purpose?
• Cognitive enhancement
• Possible alleviation of the social handicap
• Aiming at autistic disorders:
– A possible enhancement of certain cognitive
skills
• Avoiding or curing autistic disorders:
– when it is a normal variant, this would
constitute a form of eugenics/enhancement
mood and enhancement
Depression
Normal functioning
»
»
normal functioning
enhanced functioning
Mood
• General problems with the term
‘enhancement’:
– Presupposition of an objective scale from bad to normal
to enhanced
– Problematic distinction between therapy and
enhancement, and between enhancement and
dyshancement.
Scientism:
• Objectivity of science
• presupposition of objective traceability of
normative terms
• Good genes or features vs. bad genes or
features as objectively given
Following from scientism
• Objective distinction between therapy and enhancement
– Isn’t prenatal diagnosis in general already enhancement?
– What about plastic surgery?
• Objective definition of what is enhanced, what is better.
But what’s the distinction between enhancement and
dyshancement?
Conceptual problems
• Old-fashioned nature of the Boorse-Engelhardt-controversy: normative
vs. descriptive nature of a dysfunction has been debated quite
extensively. And whether the one or the other is right, does this have
any bearing on our ethical conclusions?
• Highly speculative nature of the case: prevention or specification of
the birth of these people isn’t possible, nor are there any cures or
enhancements for the features in question
• Cognition rather than mood as the main feature of mild autism
spectrum disorders
• Do ‘mood’ and ‘enhancement’ fit togetherat all?
www.enhanceproject.org