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be guided by careful reflThere are even senses of moral reason, the force of conscience. It is not the purpose of this book to explore these matters in moral theory or the psycho-logy of religion. We note our position and move on. We will engage current debates about basic goods and human capabilities, in thinkers like Martha ection, what we will call the imperative of responsibility.
5 There is of course considerable debate about which conditions might justify Nussbaum, Amartya Sen and others, in Part II of this book.overriding claims to respect and enhancement as well as what would count as good reasons for doing so. Below, we note that the demand to “respect” forms of life before moving toward their enhancement is meant to place deonto logical
6 Todorov, 7 For a similar argument, see Hans Jonas, constraints on sheer consequential reasons about such diffifor an Ethics of the Technological AgeUniversity of Chicago Press, 1984).Imperfect Garden, p. 40. , trans. H. Jonas and D. Herr (Chicago: The Imperative of Responsibility: In Search cult cases.
8 See, for instance, Jeffrey Wattles, 10 See Hans Jonas, 9 Emmanuel Levinas, Press, 1996).(Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1969).Mortality and Morality: A Search for the Good After AuschwitzTotality and Infi nity: An Essay on ExeriorityThe Golden Rule (Oxford: Oxford University , trans. A. Lingis ,
11 See Jonathan Lear, ed. L. Vogel (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1996); Heidegger, “Letter on Humanism”; James M. Gustafson, Environment from a Theocentric Perspective(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006).Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation (Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 1994).A Sense of the Divine: The Natural
13 Said, 14 Our argument is that teleological concerns, the ends sought, must, in order to 12 On this, see Vaclav Havel, Alfred A. be moral, pass through a specifiHumanism and Democratic CriticismKnopf, 1990). Disturbing the Peace c deontological test, and, conversely, those duties , p. 142., trans. P. Wilson (New York:
15 We can easily imagine forms of only make sense when ordered to proper ends. Our position, like many others, is then a mixed one.the demand of responsibility. The line between therapy and enhancement is of course diffi cult to draw, and would have to be decided in specifitherapy that would enhance life and still meet c contexts.
16 Gustafson, 17 We should note that these forms are analogous to Kant’s forms of the categori-18 The most extensive engagement with this challenge in Christian theology cal imperative (universalizability; respect for humanity; kingdom of ends) as the articulation of genuine autonomy or freedom.A Sense of the Divine, p. 72.
remains the work of Ernst Troeltsch. See, for example, Ernst Troeltsch, Absoluteness of Christianity and the History of ReligionsJ. L. Adams (Richmond, VA: John Knox, 1971). , trans. D. Reid, intro. TheNotes to Pages 77–90
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