title: Human freedom and enhancement.
abstract: Ideas about freedom and related concepts like autonomy and self-determination play a prominent role in the moral debate about human enhancement interventions. However, there is not a single understanding of freedom available, and arguments referring to freedom are simultaneously used to argue both for and against enhancement interventions. This gives rise to misunderstandings and polemical arguments. The paper attempts to disentangle the different distinguishable concepts, classifies them and shows how they relate to one another in order to allow for a more structured and clearer debate. It concludes in identifying the individual underpinnings and the social conditions of choice and decision-making as particularly salient dimensions of freedom in the ethical debate about human enhancement.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ethics (UFSP Ethics and Institute for Biomedical Ethics), University of Zurich, Pestalozzistr. 24, 8031, Zurich, Switzerland, heilinger@ethik.uzh.ch.
authors.forename: Jan-Christoph
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Heilinger
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Crone
mesh_terms: D024803:Biomedical Enhancement / Q000941:ethics*; D003068:Coercion; D003657:Decision Making; D026689:Ethical Analysis; D005610:Freedom; D006801:Humans; D009014:Morals; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D010686:Philosophy, Medical; D012067:Religion