Fall 1972

Page 32

256

CHICAGO STUDIES

their procreative love in other directions. Naturally this is not the perfect solution. After all, most couples who would present themselves for genetic counselling would already be deeply involved interpersonally and emotionally, and there is always the danger that this procedure could become inhuman and make the process of "falling in love" a search for the "properly endowed" genetic mate. But these problems, I believe, could be confronted in a very human way. Genetic counselling could be, in faet in my view, ought to be, made mandatory in the future for couples contemplating marriage. And the educational process could be initiated at an even earlier age. This process of counselling would provide an alternative for achieving some of the goals rightly considered as worthwhile by advocates of both positive and negative genetic manipulation, and this process need not carry as its consequence the dehumanization and depersonalization of the transmission of life from one generation to another. Genetic counselling, combined with the human and sophisticated development of techniques of negative or therapeutic genetic manipulation, provides a viable alternative to the achievement of the human goods held before us. These procedures could be carried out in a manner that keeps intact the vision of man articulated in the propositions formulated by Schall, the image of man generated by the "common experience" of which Kass speaks. The criterion suggested by Schall's propositions and Kass's language would seem to rule out the more exotic technologies advocated by some proponents of the new genetics-and their proposals can also be criticized on more pragmatic and even economic groundsbut it would not be subverted by eugenic counselling, even if . this were made mandatory, or by the possible development of new techniques in negative or therapeutic genetics.


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Fall 1972 by Chicago Studies - Issuu