Commentary: From Liberal Eugenics to Political Biology

Abstract

As its title suggests, Agar’s essay is an attempt to defend gene editing and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) as eugenics. Although he seeks to distinguish between this essay and his previous efforts,1 this article continues a program of work that began with his 1998 paper Liberal Eugenics.2 One reason why eugenic interventions—as commonly understood—are objectionable is that they require intolerable infringements on reproductive freedom. Agar’s thinking is that if a liberal approach is taken—meaning that parents should be allowed to choose whether to enhance their children in accordance with their values3—then at least some things that might rightly be termed eugenic (in his idiosyncratically broad conception of “liberal eugenics”)—cease to be morally objectionable