GENETHICS - TECHNOLOGICAL INTERVENTION IN HUMAN-REPRODUCTION AS A PHILOSOPHICAL PROBLEM - BAYERTZ,K

Bayertz's book, GenEthics: Technological Intervention in Human Reprodu ction as a Philosophical Problem, is primarily offered as a wide-rangi ng reflection on the fundamental principles ingredient in philosophica l approaches to the issues raised by genetic technology His goal, in s um, is to constitute a new field of inquiry within bioethics. In passi ng, he reflects on many specific issues, but his focus intentionally s tays at the philosophical level of general approaches and perspectives on the enterprise of modifying genetic structures and the characteris tics of future human beings. Our approach in this review is to state a nd critically evaluate his ''constitutive'' enterprise, both as to its claimed neutrality and its ultimate success. We are less than fully s atisfied with his account of neutrality, as well as his statement of w hat the issues and options truly amount to, but we end up commending t his text as a major contribution to its field as well as bioethics gen erally.