The Sorting Society

The ‘sorting society' expresses what many people believe will be the outcome of advances in genetic technology: a society in which many characteristics of children are no longer the result of genetic chance but of deliberate selection. This book focuses on the ethical, legal and social issues raised by this technology. Is the prospect of a sorting society something that we should welcome or deplore? Do concerns about how parents or societies might exercise the choice given to them by genetic technology give us reason to restrain its creation or use, and if so how? Would a sorting society increase the freedom of parents and the well being of children, or would it undermine values that are central to a liberal democratic society? These are questions of the most profound significance, bearing on the world in which our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will live. - Contributes to the debate on a major issue affecting all of society over the next generation - Interdisciplinary perspective - science, philosophy and law - Considers both the pros and cons of genetic testing, presenting a well rounded argument CONTENTS Preface; 1. Introduction Janna Thompson and Loane Skene; 2. Genetic testing, an informed choice Agnes Bankier and David Cram; 3. Sex selection: sorting sperm as a gateway to the sorting society? Edgar Dahl; 4. Cloning to avoid genetic disease Lynn Gillam; 5. Procreative beneficence: reasons to not have disabled children Julian Savulescu; 6. Reprogenic technologies: balancing parental procreative autonomy and social equity and justice Leslie Cannold; 7. Genetic technology and intergenerational justice Janna Thompson; 8. Genetic preselection and the moral equality of individuals David Neil; 9. Genes, identity, and the ‘expressivist critique' Rob Sparrow; 10.Overstating the biological: geneticism and essentialism in social cloning and social sex selection Mianna Lotz; 11. The sorting society - a legal perspective Loane Skene