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Social & Legal Studies
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The Mysteries of Human Dignity and the Brave New World of Human Cloning

David Gurnham

University of Reading, UK

This article examines the ethical case against human reproductive cloning and specifically the way in which it is perceived to undermine certain human values. The focus will be the ethical notion of ‘human dignity’: what constitutes a life lived with dignity and how might this be threatened or undermined by cloning technology? The argument presented here is that in the ethical debate on cloning, human dignity must be understood in relation to a notion of mystery, and the capacity of this mystery to both encourage and undermine the moral value of human life. Ethical criticisms tend to identify cloning as threatening to eliminate a form of mystery that should be protected using arguments of human rights and democracy, while simultaneously introducing a form of mystery that must be suppressed because it perverts normal social relations. For those who make such criticisms, a ‘dignified’ human life embraces mystery only insofar as its ultimate origins and design are mysterious. To render other aspects of life mysterious - such as a person’s relationship to family members - would be to threaten that dignity.

Key Words: cloning • democracy • dignity • ethics • incest • mystery • rights

Social & Legal Studies, Vol. 14, No. 2, 197-214 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0964663905051219
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