enhance milder forms of autism: between cognition and mood laurens landeweerd university of...

enhance

Milder forms of autism:between cognition and mood

Laurens LandeweerdUniversity of Maastricht (Nl), dept of Health Ethics and

Philosophy

University of Maastricht

Department of Health

Ethics and Philosophy

Thesis:Prenatal genetic diagnosis and the

problem of a liberal eugenics

• Problematic nature of the absence of ‘identity’ in med. ethics (a general neo-liberalist tendency)

• Problematic nature of intergenerational justice on an individual scale

Sheffield institute of biotechnology law and ethics (SIBLE)

MA in Biotechnology Law and Ethics,

course in Moral Theories

University of Bristol

Centre for ethics in medicine

EC-funded project in teaching and research of ethics of biotechnologies

Follow-up of BioTethics, only on teaching

BioTethics – an introductionLandeweerd, Houdebine, ter Meulen (eds.) 2nd edition. Ponteborboli, Florence, 2006.

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Enhance

ENHANCING HUMAN CAPACITIES: ETHICS, REGULATION AND EUROPEAN POLICY

www.enhanceproject.org

Coordinator: Ruud ter Meulen

Enhancement of:

• Cognition

• Life span

• Mood

• Physical performance

University of Maastricht: mood enhancement

• My first association:

– Using drugs that were originally developed for therapy of depression to go beyond normal functioning

– Not from (clinically) depressed to happy, but fro existentially troubled to okay

• Perceived weakness:

– Presupposes one line from clinically depressed to normal happy functioning. Mood is wider

• What about ‘clinically happy’ (the manic phase in manic depression)?

• Should we solve problems of life through medication?

• Can one cure ‘life’?

• More tantalizing case: tension between happiness, social environment, cognitive advantages.

But: contra-intuitive case: Asperger syndrome (and other mild forms of

autism)Symptoms

• lack of empathy • average to high intelligence• difficulties with social interaction (often leading

to social isolation

But also• a high ability to concentrate on one thing• Unusual talents or ‘genius’

on specific areas

Can one prevent or cure autism?

• Medicine:– Early experiments with marihuana and LSD

• Change of perception and social behavior

• Genetic selection– 9 out of 10 times, twins both exhibit the condition:

• Likely hereditary nature of autistic disorders/conditions• Pre-selection and in utero germ line intervention might

theoretically be feasible

Mild autism spectrum disorders social disability or cognitive super-ability

• Hyperlexia: speech disability, reading super ability• Pervasive developmental disorder: social and communicative disorder• High functioning autism: talentedness on specific area but social dysfunction• Asperger syndrome: talentedness on specific area but awkwardness

Classical pre-definition picture

Geeks / nerds

Some talents associated with mild autism spectrum disorders:

• Musical talents

• Mathematics/physics (exact sciences)

• Logics/philosophy

• IT / computers

People that allegedly suffer(ed) a form of autism:

• Isaac Newton• Bela Bartok• Ludwig Wittgenstein• Salvador Dali• Bill Gates• Bill Evans• Andy Warhol• Albert Einstein

5.64Hier sieht man, daß der Solipsismus, streng durchgeführt, mit dem reinen Realismus zusammenfällt. Das Ich des Solipsismus schrumpft zum ausdehnungslosen Punkt zusammen, und es bleibt die ihm koordinierte Realität

5.633

Wo in der Welt ist ein metaphysisches Subjekt zu merken? Du sagst, es verhält sich hier ganz, wie mit Auge und Gesichtsfeld. Aber das Auge siehst du wirklich 'nicht'. Und nichts 'am Gesichtsfeld' läßt darauf schließen, daß es von einem Auge gesehen wird.

5.6331Das Gesichtsfeld hat nämlich nicht etwa eine solche Form:

Being / having traits

• Helmut Plessner: nature of human existence as eccentric positionality

• Martin Heidegger: ontological differentiation between oneself as a being, and oneself as having a relation to that being from within that being

• Husserl: anti-psychologism /anti-reductionism

• Kierkegaard: the self as a relationship of oneself to one-self that although taking place within oneself, is based in one’s relationship to the other person(s)

“Autism isn't something a person has, or a "shell" that a person is trapped inside. There's no normal child hidden behind the autism. […] It is not possible to separate the autism from the person - and if it were possible, the person you'd have left would not be the same person you started with”

“I do not wish to be 'cured' from my autism, and many autistic persons who are able to communicate their feelings, say the same thing […] If it were possible to remove autism from a person, you would get a different person. A person who, perhaps, fits in better with his surroundings. Maybe a person who abides by the rules of society more. A person who does not stick out. That person will look identical to the previous one, but will be a different person nonetheless.”

So, is one allowed to create a super genius on purpose?

• Cognitive enhancement• Possible alleviation of the social handicap

• Aiming at autistic disorders:– A possible enhancement of certain cognitive

skills

• Avoiding or curing autistic disorders: – when it is a normal variant, this would

constitute a form of eugenics/enhancement

mood and enhancement

Depression » normal functioning

Normal functioning » enhanced functioning

Mood

• General problems with the term ‘enhancement’:

– Presupposition of an objective scale from bad to normal to enhanced

– Problematic distinction between therapy and enhancement, and between enhancement and dyshancement.

Scientism:

• Objectivity of science

• presupposition of objective traceability of normative terms

• Good genes or features vs. bad genes or features as objectively given

Following from scientism

• Objective distinction between therapy and enhancement– Isn’t prenatal diagnosis in general already enhancement?– What about plastic surgery?

• Objective definition of what is enhanced, what is better. But what’s the distinction between enhancement and dyshancement?

Conceptual problems

• Old-fashioned nature of the Boorse-Engelhardt-controversy: normative vs. descriptive nature of a dysfunction has been debated quite extensively. And whether the one or the other is right, does this have any bearing on our ethical conclusions?

• Highly speculative nature of the case: prevention or specification of the birth of these people isn’t possible, nor are there any cures or enhancements for the features in question

• Cognition rather than mood as the main feature of mild autism spectrum disorders

• Do ‘mood’ and ‘enhancement’ fit togetherat all?

www.enhanceproject.org