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211
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Introduction
Vojin Rakić (PhD, Rutgers University, USA), Full Professor at Institute for Social Sciences (Director Phil. Cntr), Founding Director of Center for the Study of Bioethics, Head of European Division of Int. Chair in Bioethics, WMA cc, (formerly UNESCO Chair in Bioethics), Chair of Cambridge Working Group for Bioethics Education - Belgrade University. Worked at University of Twente (NL). 2001-2003 was U.N. Special Adviser to Government of SRB. Since 2003 works as a university professor in Belgrade.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
October 2012 - January 2013
October 2008 - present
October 2004 - October 2008
Position
- Full Professor (previously Associate Professor)
Description
- Taught at Specialist Studies Prgram
Education
August 1994 - August 1996
August 1994 - July 1998
August 1993 - May 1994
Publications
Publications (211)
I discuss the argument of Persson and Savulescu that moral enhancement ought to accompany cognitive enhancement, as well as briefly addressing critiques of this argument, notably by John Harris. I argue that Harris, who believes that cognitive enhancement is largely sufficient for making us behave more morally, might be disposing too easily of the...
Several lines of reasoning have been employed to both approve and disapprove two of Nicholas Agar’s positions: his argument that the creation of postpersons (based on moral status enhancement) is imaginable and possible and his inductive argument disfavoring the creation of postpersons. This article discusses a number of these lines of reasoning, a...
On 30 and 31 May 2025, The Center for the Study of Bioethics, The Hastings Center and The Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics organized in Montenegro a conference: “Existential Threats and Other Disasters: How Should We Address Them?”. The conference built on the Center for the Study of Bioethics’ tradition of bringing together top experts in...
This paper explores whether extraterrestrial or other forms of cognition and morality that are unobservable and incomprehensible to humans constitute an existential risk (X-risk) or an existential opportunity (X-opportunity) for humanity. It is being argued that the human epistemological apparatus is fundamentally limited, rendering certain forms o...
Advances in procreative technologies can entail changes on a number of levels: changing sci-entific realities but also changing ethical considerations, and changes to the concepts they use or assumptions that some ethical arguments rely upon. One such case has been how the move from the idea of selection to the idea of gene editing can affect argum...
A few dozens of solutions to the Fermi paradox have been proposed in the past. The most relevant ones will be concisely discussed in this paper. They will be classified as follows: exceptionality solutions, annihilation solutions and communication barrier solutions. The argument will be advanced that all existing resolutions to the Fermi paradox ar...
Eight moral virtues that have figured prominently in various cultures throughout history will be discussed: altruism, empathy, gratitude, humility, and the "cardinal virtues" of justice, prudence, fortitude, and temperance. The focus will be on how to understand them and what their relationship is to happiness. It will be argued that all eight esse...
This paper addresses the possible effects of psychedelic drugs, notably psilocybin, on moral bio-enhancement (MBE). It will be argued that non-psychedelic substances, such as oxytocin, serotonin/serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or vasopressin, have indirect effects on M(B)E, whereas psilocybin has direct effects. Additionally, morality and happiness...
A Critical Appraisal of European eHealth Responses to Crisis Migration
The paper represents an empirical study of public attitudes towards moral bioenhancement. Moral bioenhance-ment implies the improvement of moral dispositions, i.e. an increase in the moral value of the actions or character of a moral agent. The views of bioethicists and scientists on this topic are present in the ongoing debate, but not the view of...
In the decade prior to CRISPR-Cas9, Michael Parker criticised Julian Savulescu’s Procreative Beneficence (PB) Principle by arguing against the confidence to know what’s best in terms of genetic traits for our offspring. One important outcome of this criticism was a greater moral acceptance of deaf people genetically selecting deaf children. Althoug...
The positions of some of the most essential MBE scholars will be discussed in more detail now. Their stances regarding MBE will be divided into four groups on the basis of the criteria support/opposition/categorical/hypothetical. First will be discussed those scholars who categorically support MBE: primarily, Ingmar Persson and Julian Savulesu. Sec...
In this chapter Wiseman’s position will be contextualized in light of MBE supporters and those MBE skeptics who have reservations regarding MBE, but who don’t go as far as Wiseman to reject MBE in principle. Wiseman’s The Myth of the Moral Brain contains a systematic overview of MBE and a development of various arguments against MBE I disagree with...
Explanation why the best option on offer is voluntary moral bioenhancement with happiness as its grounding rationale
A relatively succinct compilation will be offered now of technologies that can have an effect on MBE (Sect. 5.1). The discussion will also show why making the use of any MBE technologies compulsory is ineffective in principle (Sect. 5.2). Section 5.1 will have a neurological inkling, while Sect. 5.2 will have a philosophical foundation. Both sectio...
This book deals with good, evil, happiness and morally enhanced post-humans. It offers a succinct historical elaboration of philosophical stances towards morality and happiness, focusing on Kant's ideas in particular.
Human augmented ethical maturity in a futuristic version of Kant’s Ethical Commonwealth implies, among else, the following features:...
Article attempts to refine Fabiano`s virtue theory of moral enhancement
This book offers an innovative approach to moral enhancement. We, as humans, have a moral duty to be as good as we can be. Hence, moral bio-enhancement (MBE), if effective and safe, is our moral duty. However, it has to be voluntary because if it is made compulsory, human freedom (of the will) would be curtailed. As freedom (of the will) is an esse...
The reasonable way for humans to proceed is therefore to embark on moral enhancement. If it has to be supported by biomedical means we call it moral bioenhancement (MBE). MBE might curb uncontrolled human enhancement that can even lead to the obliteration of humanity. This can be caused by AI, big data or something else that is morally dubious. MBE...
Why to be good? Answers to this question vary. Religious people will be inclined to invoke Divine commands, deontologists the duty to act in a way that can be universalized as a moral rule, utilitarians the maximization of happiness as the aspired outcome, other consequentialists different outcomes, virtue ethicists the improvement of moral charact...
Relation free will and MBE as a mandatory means of avoiding “Ultimate Harm”
But in addition to moral behavior being conducive to happiness, happiness appears to stimulate moral behavior. Goodness and happiness operate in a circularly supportive fashion. Anik et al. (2009) discusses this relationship in the case of charitable giving. It concludes that giving (generosity) and being kind increases happiness, while happier peo...
Why aren’t we better? Do we have a problem with understanding morality or don’t we want to be better? Before turning to the theme of enhancing morality, it is in order to point to a number of issues that are essential for a proper comprehension of morality. In this chapter, in the section that follows, the question will be raised what it is that ma...
If performance enhancement is indeed not morally controversial in principle, why have there been so many warnings in our cultural heritage about the dangers of human enhancement? Have they been merely conservative prejudices or is there more to them? I think that there is more to them. Serious warnings dealt with the issue of whether humans are cap...
As a lasting feeling of happiness (marked by overall life satisfaction, sometimes resembling eudaimonia) is something that we should aspire, the question comes up how to maximize this type of happiness. How to maximize it for us as individuals, which is in our personal interest, but also how to maximize it for other people (which is a morally desir...
This conclusion is a proof of my argument. It implies that, if we care about morality, we should accept what posthumans judge to be morally preferable; and, in addition to that, we ought to act in accordance with this judgment. Consequently, and this is essential, as we have a moral duty to morally enhance our world, we have a moral duty to create...
Furthermore, empathy is not sufficient to be good. Sometimes a degree of aggressiveness and desire for just retribution is the morally most apposite attitude to take (e.g., see Rakić 2017).
In this chapter a number of conceptual explanations will be introduced that will be elaborated on in the essential last chapter of the second part of this book. It is also useful to the reader to have an awareness of these conceptual clarifications in the chapters preceding the last chapter of the second part of this book.
Prostitution is a categorically moral activity, sexual surrogacy and sexual assistance are hypothetically moral, while sugaring is hypothetically immoral. First, some moral objections to prostitution will be refuted and it will be argued that prostitution is moral in principle. Second, it will be argued that sexual surrogacy and sexual assistance c...
In November 2003 Georgia has
moved to what is now wittingly
labelled as post-post-Soviet era. Not
only the new generation of politicians
have come afore, but the events have
shattered the very basement of postSoviet establishment, symbolized
here by the ever-present figure of internationally renown, wise and experienced but controversial and alread...
The effective collection and management of personal data of rapidly migrating populations is important for ensuring adequate healthcare and monitoring of a displaced peoples’ health status. With developments in ICT data sharing capabilities, electronic personal health records (ePHRs) are increasingly replacing less transportable paper records. ePHR...
Various kinds of human bioenhancement represent a major topic of contention in both bioethics and futures studies. Moral enhancement is one of them. It will be argued that voluntary moral bio-enhancement (and other types of moral enhancement) should be based on an opt out moral (bio)enhancement scheme. Such a scheme would avoid the challenges of a...
The effective collection and management of personal data of rapidly migrating populations is important for ensuring adequate healthcare and monitoring of a displaced peoples’ health status. With developments in ICT data sharing capabilities, electronic personal health records (ePHRs) are increasingly replacing less transportable paper records. ePHR...
1 | INTRODUC TI ON Collecting and maintaining health data of a rapidly migrating population in times of crisis is, amongst other things, important for ensuring adequate healthcare and accurate monitoring of a displaced and vulnerable peoples' health status. With developments in data sharing capabilities in ICT (eHealth), electronic personal health...
During the previous years, voluntary moral bioenhancement (VMBE) has been contrasted to compulsory moral bioenhancement (CMBE). In this paper a third possible type of moral bioenhancement is discussed: genome editing for moral enhancement of the unborn that is neither voluntary nor compulsory, but involuntary. Involuntary moral bioenhancement (IMBE...
Introduction: The Ethical Frontiers of Gene Editing - Volume 28 Issue 1 - ARTHUR CAPLAN, VOJIN RAKIĆ
The Ethical Frontiers of Gene Editing
Several lines of reasoning have been employed to both approve and disapprove two of Nicholas Agar’s positions: his argument that the creation of postpersons (based on moral status enhancement) is imaginable and possible and his inductive argument disfavoring the creation of postpersons. This article discusses a number of these lines of reasoning, a...
In this chapter I will give an interpretation of the role consequentialist ethics can have in disaster settings. I will argue that consequentialist ethics is most appropriate when decisions are taken that affect not single individuals but larger numbers of people. This is frequently the case in political decision making, especially when powerful st...
It will be argued that humans have a rational self-interest in voluntarily opting to subject themselves to moral bioenhancement. This interest is based on the fact that goodness appears to be conducive to happiness. Those who understand that will be inclined to opt for safe and effective moral bioenhancement technologies. The more people decide to...
Gender affirmation surgery remains one of the greatest challenges in transgender medicine. In recent years, there have been continuous discussions on bioethical aspects in the treatment of persons with gender dysphoria. Gender reassignment is a difficult process, including not only hormonal treatment with possible surgery but also social discrimina...
The introduction of Web 2.0 technology, along with a population increasingly proficient in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), coupled with the rapid advancements in genetic testing methods, has seen an increase in the presence of participant-centred research initiatives. Such initiatives, aided by the centrality of ICT interconnection...
Rakić has serious misgivings about Wiseman`s inability to frame ethical issues in the context of transcending existing realities (the ‘is’) with the aim of achieving what we believe is morally right (the ‘ought’). This inability to think beyond the present is misguided in ethics. He also criticizes Wiseman for making the unimaginative and unsubstan...
Role of oxytocin in moral bioenhancement
During the previous years, Harris Wiseman has devoted substantial attention to my stance on voluntary moral bioenhancement. He argued that he has been influenced by that position, but nonetheless criticized it. I haven’t replied to his criticisms yet and wish to do so now. One of the reasons is to avoid my position being misrepresented. By replying...
Commentary: Cognitive Enhancement: Are the Claims of Critics “Good Enough”? - Volume 26 Issue 4 - Vojin Rakić
The question will be raised whether oxytocin can serve as an effective moral enhancer. Different types of moral enhancement will be addressed, one of them being compulsory moral enhancement. It will be argued that oxytocin cannot serve as an effective moral enhancer if its use is being made compulsory. Hence, compulsory administration of oxytocin d...
The question will be raised whether oxytocin can serve as an effective moral enhancer. Different types of moral enhancement will be addressed, one of them being compulsory moral enhancement. It will be argued that oxytocin cannot serve as an effective moral enhancer if its use is being made compulsory. Hence, compulsory administration of oxytocin d...
Intensified and extensive data production and data storage are characteristics of contemporary western societies. Health data sharing is increasing with the growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) platforms devoted to the collection of personal health and genomic data. However, the sensitive and personal nature of health data poses...
This article continues and expands differences I have with Ingmar Persson and Julian Savulescu concerning issues of moral bioenhancement and free will. They have criticized my conception of voluntary moral bioenhancement, claiming that it ignores the extent to which freedom is a matter of degree. Here, I argue that freedom as a political concept (o...
Enhancements: How and Why to Become Better, How and Why to Become Good - Volume 26 Issue 3 - VOJIN RAKIĆ
We outline an argument favoring voluntary moral bioenhancement as a response to existential risks humanity exposes itself to. We consider this type of enhancement a solution to the antithesis between the extinction of humanity and the imperative of humanity to survive at any cost (e.g., by adopting illiberal strategies). By opting for voluntary mor...
An ‘Information Centre’ has recently been
established by law which has the power to collect, collate and
provide access to the medical information for all patients
treated by the National Health Service in England, whether in
hospitals or by General Practitioners. This so-called ‘care.-
data’ scheme has given rise to major and ongoing controversies...
An ‘Information Centre’ has recently been established by law
which has the power to collect, collate and provide access to the medical information for
all patients treated by the National Health Service in England, whether in hospitals or by General Practitioners. This so-called ‘care.data’ scheme has given rise to major and ongoing controversies....
I discuss the argument of Persson and Savulescu that moral enhancement ought to accompany cognitive enhancement, as well as briefly addressing critiques of this argument, notably by John Harris. I argue that Harris, who believes that cognitive enhancement is largely sufficient for making us behave more morally, might be disposing too easily of the...
Questions
Questions (14)
E.g., is politically correct in democracies most of the time also morally right? Can we list exceptions?
To adjust to social norms? To protect oneself from harm by not harming others? Survival of the individual and/or the species? God?
"Getting away with it": being spared any detrimental legal, social, psychological etc. consequences.
