GENETIC THERAPY, PERSON-REGARDING REASONS AND THE DETERMINATION OF IDENTITY - A REPLY

I have outlined two ways of defending the claim that there are so-call ed person-regarding reasons for practising gene therapy on human conce ptuses.(1) One is metaphysical and concerns our nature and identity. T he upshot of it is that, in cases of most interest, this therapy does not affect our identity, by bringing into existence anyone of our kind who would not otherwise have existed. The other defence is value theo retical and claims that even if genetic therapy were to affect the ide ntity of beings our kind, there could still be person-regarding reason s for performing it, since we can be benefited and harmed by being cau sed to exist or not to exist. Robert Elliot has attacked both of these lines, and my present objective is to show hole, his criticisms can b e deflected.(2)