1 - A recovery of virtue for the ethics of genetics

Summary

Why is there so much interest in ethical issues in genetics compared with other areas of science? What form does this ethical discussion take, and what might be the contribution of theological ethics to this discussion? This chapter attempts to set out the scope of ethical discussion in genetics, and to offer a commentary on its development in the light of the particular position being argued for in this book, namely the relevance of a theologically informed virtue ethics. Genetics, especially human genetics, intuitively seems to equate with our distinctive nature as individual humans, but it also reaches out beyond this to wider social and political questions. Therefore it is not just relevant for individual ethics, or ethics in a family setting through the new reproductive technologies; it also reaches out to significant issues of public and political concern. In facing such diverse issues, the temptation for medical science is to resort to a case-by-case approach and to rely simply on ethical principles such as patient autonomy and informed choice. Yet it is clear that the practice of medicine is itself being reshaped by the new genetic technologies, changing the ethos of medicine, with social and political repercussions, far beyond the limits of medical science. I will argue in this chapter for a recovery of prudence, or practical wisdom, alongside the other cardinal virtues of justice, fortitude and temperance.