Second Thoughts: How Human Cloning Can Promote Human Dignity

Abstract

The most common objection to human cloning sees some or all such cloning as somehow incompatible with human dignity. This objection of course presupposes some understanding of the idea of human dignity. An account of human dignity in the context of human cloning is, as we shall see below, extremely important. Our ultimate attitude toward human cloning and its legal regulation will crucially depend on our understanding of the idea of human dignity. To briefly anticipate our conclusion, the dignitary and related objections to many sorts of human cloning are misplaced. Remarkably, these objections turn out to be backward and even unintentionally perverse. For reasons developed below, the unanticipated, ironic consequence of mainstream forms of human cloning is instead likely to be the clarification and highlighting of the actual nature and grounds of human dignity. Whatever the expectations of either its supporters or its critics, the typical forms of human cloning are in the long run likely to actually deepen and enhance our appreciation of human dignity.