[Azred]

Originally posted by shamrock_uk: 1) Can the children complain? No, because children can never complain about the circumstances into which they are born. That is simply the "luck of the dice" associated with birth. Each person has the duty to make their own lot in life. 2) If no, have the mothers done anything wrong? That is to say, if no one has been harmed, can the action still be wrong? The mothers haven't done anything wrong, in a legal sense. They have, however, been very selfish because they want to define what kind of life their child will have; unfortunately, as parents our job is to help our children find their own life, not live it for them or tell them how to live. We may show them a good example of how to live properly, but ultimately it is out of our control. 4) Can deafness be viewed as a culture, or is it just a plain and simple disability? The group of people who are deaf constitute a "culture", or at least a social group. Deafness, itself, is a disability, even if those who are deaf disagree with that--you cannot hear! There are professions (like surgeon or commercial airline pilot) that are unavailable to those who are deaf, because others' lives depend upon you being able to hear information coming to you. Of course, being deaf doesn't stop one from having a complete and satisfying life. 5) Do parents have a duty to have the best offspring possible. If yes, how does this reflect on the debate about "designer babies" and genetic enhancement? No. Parents have the duty to love the children that they have and give them the best possible upbringing. There is nothing wrong with the concept of "designer baby", because all parents have an expectation of what kind of child they would like to have ("dear, I hope the baby has your eyes"). Even if we had the fully developed technology of genetic engineering this would be just fine. Of course, the most obvious traits--hair color, eye color, skin color, height--are the most irrelevant. There are some genetic traits that should be screened out, such as Down's Syndrome or Epstein's Anomoly. The only trait that should be enhanced is intelligence, whether scientific, musical, artistic, etc. Aside from intelligence, do we currently have the wisdom to know which traits are the most desirable? Of course not! The average person suffers from an almost complete lack of wisdom. The question is, of course, moot because the Nazis forever soured the concept of eugenics or genetic engineering of humans.