The Genetic Relation

Concerned with some important questions in artificial reproduction and parenthood. Its aims are: first to examine the impact of artificial reproduction on our thinking about natural reproduction and parenthood and, second, to ask how far traditional values and concepts should inform and guide the inevitable increase in artificial reproduction. The new methods call for new thinking. However, a central question concerns the importance of the traditional view that natural, or genetic, parents have a special moral status. The drive for artificial reproduction is often justified in terms of the desire of parents for their own progeny. Yet many philosophers say that the genetic relation between parents and their progeny has no moral significance. The importance of the genetic relation cannot be demonstrated by a single argument but it is found to underlie many of the questions discussed in this book. It is also one of the aims of the book to take account of some criticisms of artificial reproduction in various feminist writings.