Abstract
The paper represents an empirical study of public attitudes towards moral bioenhancement. Moral bioenhancement implies the improvement of moral dispositions, i.e. an increase in the moral value of the actions or character of a moral agent. The views of bioethicists and scientists on this topic are present in the ongoing debate, but not the view of the public in general. In order to bridge the gap between the philosophical debate and the view of the public, we have examined attitudes towards moral bioenhancement. The participants were people from Serbia older than 15, who voluntarily completed an online questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of a brief introduction to moral bioenhancement, seven general questions, 25 statements about participants’ attitudes towards moral bioenhancement, and five examples of moral dilemmas. The questionnaire also included questions which were used to reveal their preference of either deontology, or utilitarianism. Participants were asked to what degree they agree or disagree with the statements. The results showed that the means used to achieve moral enhancement, the level of education, and preference for deontology or utilitarianism do have an impact on public attitudes. Using exploratory factor analysis, we isolated four factors that appear to drive the respondents' attitudes toward moral bioenhancement, we named: general—closeness, fear of change, security, and voluntariness. Each factor in relationship to other variables offers new insights that can inform policies and give us a deeper understanding of the public attitudes. We argue that looking into different facets of attitudes towards moral bioenhancement improves the debate, and expands it.
Highlights
This paper represents a part of an empirical study1 of public attitudes towards moral bioenhancement
In the second part of our research, which will be published as a separate paper, we investigate whether factors such as the difference between self and other, own child and other children, Moral bioenhancement (MBE) of the children, voluntary/mandatory distinction, involvement in violence, and religion have an influence on people’s attitudes towards MBE
Exploratory factor analysis Based on the multiple criteria, including the scree plot method (Additional file 1: Figure S1), we determined that the optimal number of common factors to be extracted
Summary
This paper represents a part of an empirical study of public attitudes towards moral bioenhancement. Moral bioenhancement (MBE) refers to using medical, pharmacological, or biotechnological means to improve moral dispositions and motives. Given the rapid evolution of society and technology, the discourse on ethics is becoming increasingly relevant. The issue of MBE is important, since moral behavior and humanity are, along with rationality, precious and essential values that define us as human beings. While there is a considerable discussion about the moral propriety of MBE, the views of the public have largely been absent from the discussion. We explore people’s attitudes towards MBE, to either confirm or raise doubts regarding some findings of a previous study [1], and to start a discussion about the major factors that drive attitudes toward MBE that have not been isolated before
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