The July issue of The American Journal of Bioethics arrives early with three fascinating articles–two about sex (one the biological kind, the other the active kind) and the other about transhumanism.
First, in an editorial by yours truly, Disaster in the Gulf: Public Health and Public Responsibility, I ask about the public and moral responsibility for the protection of public health in the Gulf. While this may seem like an obvious moral issue now, when this article was penned more than a month ago and the magnitude of this oil spill was not nearly so great, the responsibility for and implications of this disaster were much less clear. Now, sadly, they are obvious, but no less relevant.
The first Target Article by Robert Sparrow asks the provocative question whether the human species would be enhanced if all of its members were biologically female, or put another way, whether we gain anything via sexual reproduction and leaving our XX or XY’s to chance.
The second article by Timothy Murphy explores new ethical territory in research ethics asking us to question the morality of researchers having sexual relationships with research subjects.
In the final article of the set, the moral status of transhumanists is questioned and in particular whether the traditional concept of human dignity applies.
Take a look at these articles on bioethics.net. It is a stellar issue, if I say so myself!
Summer Johnson, PhD