Admirável mundo novo: reflexões acerca da justiça no acesso as tecnologias de melhoramento humano

Abstract

As a result of technological evolution, the desire to transcend biological limitations of the human body has stopped being part of mythological tales and science fiction stories, taking on real contours and becoming part of everyday social life. In a society with individuals in constant competition for the acquisition of goods and increasing capital and with the advent of technologies capable of improving the performance of the human body, unequal access to these technologies could trigger a significant increase in social inequalities and completely undermine the social structures. In the present work we sought to discuss the issues of access to these technologies, analyzing the compatibility of John Rawls' theory of justice with the principlist theory of Beauchamp and Childress for resolving these dilemmas. In constructing this reasoning, the two philosophical currents that work on this topic most diligently were first presented. The transhumanist current defends the overcoming of biological limitations and the search for human enhancement, arguing that these technologies can bring significant benefits to humanity, including transcending it. The bioconservative current highlights that these technologies threaten human dignity and nature, and can cause asymmetry in intersubjective relationships and lead to the rupture of the social structure. Despite the antagonism, these currents converge in concerns about fair access to human enhancement technologies, the object of this work. The relevance of the Rawlsian theory to the principlist theory of bioethics was analyzed, with an emphasis on the principle of justice. It was concluded that John Rawls' theory appears to be relevant for resolving the dilemmas presented to bioethics in this imminent society, since both theories (Rawlsian and principlist) perceive necessity as a fair material criterion for the distribution of resources. In a society where biological resources can be chosen, not just accepted as a random “lottery of life”, it seems a matter of justice to offer a fair conditions of access to human improvement Technologies to everyone, as long as they are technologies that contribute to a full life and social evolution.