Future of the Disabled in Liberal Society

by Reinders, Hans S.

• ISBN13: 9780268028572
• ISBN10: 0268028575
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-01
• Publisher: Univ of Notre Dame Pr

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

Author Biography

Han S. Reinders is the Willem van den Bergh Professor of Ethics and Mental Disability at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction	1	(20)
A Paradigmatic Shift	1	(3)
Widening the Scope of the Debate I	4	(5)
Widening the Scope of the Debate II	9	(3)
The Argument	12	(9)
PART ONE
The `Liberal Convention'	21	(16)
The Context of the Debate	21	(1)
The `Liberal Convention'	22	(2)
Implications of Starting with the `Liberal Convention'	24	(2)
Morality among Strangers	26	(4)
Instrumentalism, Formalism, or Conventionalism?	30	(5)
Beyond a Narrow Conception of Morality	35	(2)
Genetics and Prevention in Public Morality	37	(14)
Initial Distinctions	37	(2)
`Morally Permissible' and `Morally Required'	39	(1)
Preventing Conception and Preventing Birth	40	(2)
`Impairment', `Disability', and `Handicap'	42	(2)
`Disease' and `Disability'	44	(2)
`We' as Individuals and `We' as a Political Community	46	(3)
Two Questions	49	(2)
``The Condition, Not the Person''	51	(15)
The Charge of Negative Evaluation	51	(2)
The DPC Argument	53	(3)
Actual and Future People	56	(1)
Evaluating Other People's Lives	57	(2)
Disability and Identity	59	(2)
The Fallacy of Geneticization	61	(2)
What Are Clinical Geneticists Doing?	63	(3)
Disability, Prevention, and Discrimination	66	(18)
Negative Side Effects?	67	(1)
Two Types of Reasons	68	(2)
Discrimination and Exclusion	70	(3)
Discrimination and the Value of Life	73	(2)
The Social Position of the Disabled	75	(3)
The Future of Disability	78	(3)
No World without Disabled People	81	(3)
Restriction on Reproductive Choice?	84	(21)
`Free Choice' in Human Reproduction	84	(2)
Restriction of Reproductive Freedom?	86	(5)
The Charge of Discriminatory Attitudes	91	(3)
Restrictive Policies against Selective Abortion	94	(2)
Restrictive Policies to Control Genetic Testing	96	(3)
Degrees of Seriousness?	99	(2)
The Weakness of the Liberal Convention	101	(4)
PART TWO
The Inclusion of the Mentally Disabled	105	(17)
The Moral Standing of Disabled People	105	(3)
Persons in the Social Sense	108	(1)
Justice and Beneficence	109	(4)
Recipients of Justice	113	(3)
Public Morality as Overlapping Consensus	116	(2)
The Parasitic Nature of Liberal Morality	118	(4)
Imperatives of the Self	122	(17)
Two Claims	122	(3)
Kenzaburo Oe: A Personal Matter	125	(2)
An Inward Voyage	127	(3)
Himiko's Theory	130	(2)
Constancy and Truthfulness	132	(3)
Accountability as Self-Narration	135	(4)
Responsibility for Dependent Others	139	(20)
On Accepting Responsibility	139	(3)
`The Ethical Demand'	142	(1)
Social Norms and Moral Judgment	143	(3)
`Life as a Gift'	146	(2)
Convention and Commitment	148	(5)
Appropriate Motivations	153	(6)
PART THREE
The Presumption of Suffering	159	(16)
A Remaining Question	159	(3)
Reasons Regarding Quality of Life	162	(2)
Ways of Suffering	164	(2)
Enrichment? In What Way?	166	(5)
Identification, Not Resignation	171	(4)
The Transformation Experience	175	(18)
Incoherent Views?	176	(1)
The Different Perspectives	177	(3)
A Capacity for Alienation	180	(3)
``From Devastation to Transformation''	183	(4)
Transformation and the Power to Respond	187	(6)
The Meaning of Life in Liberal Society	193	(16)
Discovered or Made?	193	(1)
Some Conceptual Clarifications	194	(3)
Bricoleurs Rather Than Engineers	197	(1)
Culture as a `Context of Choice'	198	(2)
The Redundancy of Choice	200	(3)
Caring for the Disabled in Liberal Society	203	(3)
Conclusion	206	(3)
Notes	209	(50)
Bibliography	259	(12)
Index	271