The future of the disabled in liberal society : an ethical analysis / Hans S. Reinders.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Reinders, Hans S.

Series:

Revisions

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sociology of disability.

People with disabilities--Social conditions.

People with disabilities.

People with disabilities--Government policy.

Eugenics--Moral and ethical aspects.

Eugenics.

Physical Description:

xii, 280 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Notre Dame, Ind. : University of Notre Dame Press, [2000]

Summary:

The Future of the Disabled in Liberal Society questions developments in human genetic research from the perspective of persons with mental disabilities and their families. Hans S. Reinders argues that when we use terms such as "disease" and "defect" to describe conditions that genetic engineering might well eliminate, we may also be assuming that disabled lives are deplorable and horrific. Reinders points out that the possibility of preventing disabled lives is at odds with our commitment to the full inclusion of disabled citizens in society. The tension between these different perspectives is of concern to all of us as genetic testing procedures proliferate. Reinders warns that preventative uses of human genetics might even become a threat to the social security and welfare benefits that help support disabled persons and their families. Reinders also argues that this conflict cannot be resolved or controlled on the level of public morality. Because a liberal society makes a commitment to individual freedom and choice, its members can consider the diagnostic and therapeutic uses of human genetics as options available to individual citizens. A liberal society will defend reproductive freedom as a matter of principle. Citizens may select their offspring in accord with their own personal values. Reinders concludes that the future of the mentally disabled in liberal society will depend on the strength of our moral convictions about the value of human life, rather than on the protective force of liberal morality. One of the most important aspects of this book is Reinder's attention to parents who have come to see the task of raising a disabled child as an enriching experience. These are people who change their conceptions of success and control and, therefore, their conceptions of themselves. They come to value their disabled children for what they have to give. Even though disabled children and disabled adults present parents and society with real challenges, the rewards are just as real. This powerful critique of contemporary bioethics is sure to become required reading for those interested in human development, special education, ethics, philosophy, and theology.

Contents:

1.1 A Paradigmatic Shift 1

1.2 Widening the Scope of the Debate 4

1.4 The Argument 12

2. The 'Liberal Convention' 21

2.1 The Context of the Debate 21

2.2 The 'Liberal Convention' 22

2.3 Implications of Starting with the 'Liberal Convention' 24

2.4 Morality among Strangers 26

2.5 Instrumentalism, Formalism, or Conventionalism? 30

2.6 Beyond a Narrow Conception of Morality 35

3. Genetics and Prevention in Public Morality 37

3.1 Initial Distinctions 37

3.2 'Morally Permissible' and 'Morally Required' 39

3.3 Preventing Conception and Preventing Birth 40

3.4 'Impairment', 'Disability', and 'Handicap' 42

3.5 'Disease' and 'Disability' 44

3.6 'We' as Individuals and 'We' as a Political Community 46

3.7 Two Questions 49

4. "The Condition, Not the Person" 51

4.1 The Charge of Negative Evaluation 51

4.2 The DPC Argument 53

4.3 Actual and Future People 56

4.4 Evaluating Other People's Lives 57

4.5 Disability and Identity 59

4.6 The Fallacy of Geneticization 61

4.7 What Are Clinical Geneticists Doing? 63

5. Disability, Prevention, and Discrimination 66

5.1 Negative Side Effects? 67

5.2 Two Types of Reasons 68

5.3 Discrimination and Exclusion 70

5.4 Discrimination and the Value of Life 73

5.5 The Social Position of the Disabled 75

5.6 The Future of Disability 78

5.7 No World without Disabled People 81

6. Restrictions on Reproductive Choice? 84

6.1 'Free Choice' in Human Reproduction 84

6.2 Restriction of Reproductive Freedom? 86

6.3 The Charge of Discriminatory Attitudes 91

6.4 Restrictive Policies against Selective Abortion 94

6.5 Restrictive Policies to Control Genetic Testing 96

6.6 Degrees of Seriousness? 99

6.7 The Weakness of the Liberal Convention 101

7. The Inclusion of the Mentally Disabled 105

7.1 The Moral Standing of Disabled People 105

7.2 Persons in the Social Sense 108

7.3 Justice and Beneficence 109

7.4 Recipients of Justice 113

7.5 Public Morality as Overlapping Consensus 116

7.6 The Parasitic Nature of Liberal Morality 118

8. Imperatives of the Self 122

8.1 Two Claims 122

8.2 Kenzaburo Oe: A Personal Matter 125

8.3 An Inward Voyage 127

8.4 Himiko's Theory 130

8.5 Constancy and Truthfulness 132

8.6 Accountability as Self-Narration 135

9. Responsibility for Dependent Others 139

9.1 On Accepting Responsibility 139

9.2 'The Ethical Demand' 142

9.3 Social Norms and Moral Judgment 143

9.4 'Life as a Gift' 146

9.5 Convention and Commitment 148

9.6 Appropriate Motivations 153

10. The Presumption of Suffering 159

10.1 A Remaining Question 159

10.2 Reasons Regarding Quality of Life 162

10.3 Ways of Suffering 164

10.4 Enrichment? In What Way? 166

10.5 Identification, Not Resignation 171

11. The Transformation Experience 175

11.1 Incoherent Views? 176

11.2 Two Different Perspectives 177

11.3 A Capacity for Alienation 180

11.4 "From Devastation to Transformation" 183

11.5 Transformation and the Power to Respond 187

12. The Meaning of Life in Liberal Society 193

12.1 Discovered or Made? 193

12.2 Some Conceptual Clarifications 194

12.3 Bricoleurs Rather Than Engineers 197

12.4 Culture as a 'Context of Choice' 198

12.5 The Redundancy of Choice 200

12.6 Caring for the Disabled in Liberal Society 203.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-270) and index.

ISBN:

0268028567

0268028575

OCLC:

43694359