Germline Gene Editing Applications and the Afro-communitarian Ubuntu Philosophy

Abstract

Germline gene editing has many applications or uses. This article focuses on specific applications. Specifically, the article draws on a moral norm arising from the thinking about the value of communal relationships in the Afro-communitarian ubuntu philosophy to interrogate key issues that specific applications of germline gene editing – for xeno-transplantation, agriculture and wildlife – raise. The article contends that the application of germline gene editing in these areas is justified to the extent that they foster the capacity to relate with others and to be communed with by others. The article grants that our today’s decisions about germline gene editing will likely affect future humans, but will attempt to justify how this may be ethically permissible