Against Covert Moral Bioenhancement

Abstract

Moral bioenhancement is an area of bioethical and scientific research dedicated to altering or augmenting moral beliefs, will, and behavior through biomedical interventions. Small advances in the field have been made in recent years. Researchers have primarily focused on evaluating subjects’ moral behavior or beliefs after administering certain drugs or stimulating suspected regions of interest in the brain. Theoretical models indicate that the scope of such interventions can be increased only through covert moral bioenhancement. However, covert moral bioenhancement is illicit because it fails to respect the dignity of the patients through informed consent. These difficulties demonstrate the dangers of the utilitarian worldview that is rampant in modern society. Almost any action carried out on the human person can be justified on the basis of a weak moral calculus and an imagined good.