how do we care for future people? implications of buddhist and jain concepts for reproductive ethics...

HOW DO WE CARE HOW DO WE CARE FOR FUTURE FOR FUTURE PEOPLE?PEOPLE?IMPLICATIONS OF BUDDHIST AND IMPLICATIONS OF BUDDHIST AND JAIN CONCEPTS FOR JAIN CONCEPTS FOR REPRODUCTIVE ETHICSREPRODUCTIVE ETHICS

James J. Hughes Ph.D.

Executive Director, Institute for Ethics and Emerging TechnologiesPublic Policy Studies, Trinity Collegedirector@ieet.orgieet.org

Jain Conference on Bioethics - Aug 24-25, 2012Claremont Lincoln University

Bioethics and Personhood Bioethics has attempted to define what a

being of moral significance is by defining “personhood”

Personhood debates in Bioethics Abortion, embryonic stem cell research,

reproductive technology, prenatal screening

Brain death, anencephaly Animal rights Neurodiversity, cognitive enhancement

Ensoulment Views

“The Soul of Trans-Humanism” By Ted Peters (2005)

Varieties of Western Soul Views:Substance DualismTrichotomyEmergent DualismNon-reductive PhysicalismTheological MaterialismAtheistic Materialism

Ted Peters

Spirit Dualisms

Substance Dualism Hindu atman, Jain jiva and the soul for

most lay Christians Unchanging supernatural essence that

exists before birth and after death

Trichotomy Body, soul (mind/brain), spirit (supra-

physical) Baptism replaces human spirit with

divine spirit

Emergent Dualism Soul emergent from the brain, but

supraphysical Before the body, no soul

Materialist Ideas of the Soul

Non-reductive Physicalism Soul/Mind are physical but cannot

be reduced to the brain

No body, no soul

Resurrection of the body necessary

Theological Materialism Soul is a conscious, physical brain’s

spiritual capacity

Atheistic Materialism “Soul” is meaningless: there is only

consciousness and self-identity

Locke on Personal Identity

Bridge to atheist materialism

God made thinking matter Theological materialist, but

resurrected body will be of different matter

Memory is bridge from life to resurrected body

Subjective identity necessary for Judgment, accountability

Self is Thinking, Memory, Identity

…to find wherein personal Identity consists, we must consider what Person stands for; which, I think, is a thinking intelligent Being, that has reason and reflection, and can consider itself as itself, the same thinking thing in different times and places… (Locke, 1689)

Hume’s Empiricist Skepticism

All cause-effects are perceptual illusions

The continuity of the self is a perceptual illusion

"…a bundle or collection of different perceptions which succeed one another with an inconceivable rapidity and are in perpetual flux and movement" (Hume, 1739)

Neuroscience and the Self

No localization in the brain Many processes: Senses,

Proprioception, Awareness, Cognition

Split brain Memory is narrative fiction

Kahneman: experiencing self vs. remembered self

Thomas Metzinger Self-identity is fluid, selective

Buddhist No Self

Embracing the reality of the constantly changing and illusory nature of self is liberating

We can, and must, use self concept while recognizing its emptiness

But Buddhists, like Jains, believe in reincarnation, hence some kind of supernatural dualism

Do Animals Have Soul Stuff?

For Abrahamic faith only humans have souls

Like modern secular ethics, Buddhists and Jains see a moral continuity between animals and humans

Karma and Analog Ensoulment The materialist move:

Equating ensoulment with neurology

If jiva/ajiva is analog instead of binary so also is the karma of harming

If Buddhists and Jains equate ensoulment with neurodevelopment they could adopt various stances parallel to secular bioethics

Personhood Debates

Psychological characteristics that accumulate moral relevance

Sentience, the capacity for pain (Gary Francione)

Self-awareness, volition Wise’s Drawing the Line

(1) desire

(2) intentionally try to fulfill its own desires

(3) possess a sense of self-sufficiency which includes self-awareness.

The capacity for moral agency and autonomy (Kant, Engelhardt)

Buddhist Fetal Personhood

The five skandhas necessary for self illusion:A body (rupa)Feeling (vedana)Cognition (samjñā)Volition (samskāra)Consciousness (vijñāna)Clearly a fetus does not possess all these traits until late in pregnancy, or perhaps even after birth

Transcending Humanness

Abrahamic faiths: static humanity, enhancement is sinful

South Asian faiths: humanity is a temporary stage on our evolution into the posthuman

European Enlightenment: humanity is a happy evolutionary accident which can be improved on science until we become more godlike

Genetic Enhancement

Obligations to one’s own children to ensure their widest possible life options

Procreative beneficence

Buddhist and Jain obligation to use genetics to morally enhance our children

Moral Enhancement

The use of drugs, devices and gene therapy to suppress vices and addictions, and enhance capacities for self-control, compassion, spiritual experience, and rational discernment

Obligation to Future Generations

We are obliged to ensure future persons are more than merely sentient, but have the best chance at spiritual progress

Nirvana, moksha, siddhas, arhats

Virtue consequentialism

Uplift Ethic

For Abrahamic faiths human and animal nature are separate and fixed

For non-anthropocentric bioethics we have obligations to animals, possibly even to improving their cognition

For Buddhists and Jains we have obligations to animals, even to their spiritual well-being

Duty to ensure better liberation chances for all future life?

Duty to enhance existing animals?If ensoulment is analog, this obligation may only apply to higher mammals

Posthuman Eschatology

Jains and Buddhists shared the Hindu model of an beginningless and endless timeline, with cyclical multi-billion year universe life courses (kalachakras)

We are in the era of declining dharma (Dusama) leading up to a future utopian era (Susama)

Waiting for the next Mahapurusha Cakravartins, Tirthankaras and

Buddhas

Lakshanas of the MahaPurushas

The major laksanas include:Large bump on top of skullGolden skinBody covered in tight curled hairA tuft of hair between the eyebrows.A large, long tongue and forty teethLong arms that reach to the knees Webbed fingers and toesA thousand-spoked wheel on the sole of each footA glowing aura

Mahapurushas are clearly posthuman

Summary

Buddhism and Jainism connect with and illuminate contemporary bioethics around animal-human-posthuman evolutionary trajectory and moral continuity

Buddhism and Jainism differ radically in how they connect with bioethical debates on personhood

Liberal Buddhists and Jains could set aside literal interpretations of ensoulment and adopt a materialist, neuroscientific view that permits some abortion and distinguishes between animals

Summary cont.

Some secular bioethicists believe it is permissible to genetically enhance humans and animals, while Abrahamic faiths generally oppose it

Jains and Buddhists would use virtue consequentialism to judge whether genetic enhancements give future generations maximal opportunity for spiritual growth, meaning not only that enhancement for health and cognitive ability might be obligatory, but also enhancement for moral and spiritual traits

Jains and Buddhists are more open to the radical optimism of the Enlightenment that we may transcend our humanness

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