AN INTERVIEW WITH FRANCIS FUKUYAMA : From Hedgeltog Review, Fall 2002

~Joseph E. Davis~

Q: How is this understand of human nature connected to, or the grounds for, a conception of human dignity?

A: I think a conception of human nature has to be the reasoning behind most thinking about human dignity. Unless we have a specific nature that distinguishes us from other kinds of creature or other parts of the natural world, then there's no grounds for special treatment. I take seriously the dignity of human persons because they possess some combination of reason, the capacity for moral choice and moral behavior, the ability to socially interact, language, and the like. All of these are specific to human beings as a specific to human beings as species and explain why human beings can have political rights and other kinds of creatures cannot.

Q: You argued in both your recent book and in Congressional testimony last year that one of the reasons why reproductive cloning should be banned is because it is "highly unnatural." Does knowledge of human nature, our innately given capacities, give us enough direction to make clear judgments about what is natural with respect to particular biotechnologies or their applications?

A: The links between specific judgments and this broad view of human nature are very complex and will be quite controversial, but I think that the links still exist. For example, i think there are certain forms of family organization that are clearly grounded in nature and that on the whole provide for the healthiest kinds of family situations. A type or reproduction, therefore, that short-circuits or bypasses that form has, all other things being equal, got problems. Now, not everything that has a problem necessarily has to be banned or has to be the subject of legislation or regulation, but I do think that human nature gives us some grounds for making judgments, including judgments about risk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In Relation to the Novel~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Who is the victim of Dr. Frankenstein's creation, the monster or society?

• The monster thought that since he was different he would not have feelings or be the same as humans, but that shows that he is really no different than the rest of the world.

• "How strange, I thought, that the same casual should produce such opposite effects" (Shelley, Pg 72)

• "I was not even of the same nature as man...all men disowned" (Shelley, Pg 85)