Argumentative on Biological Engineering Essay Example

Argumentative on Biological Engineering Essay Example Argumentative on Biological Engineering Essay Argumentative on Biological Engineering Essay The ethical debate surrounding biological engineering to duplicate human DNA in order to produce a genetic replicate has found its way into discussion through several media outlets, including medical Journals, film and literature. Questions of who we are as both individuals and as a human species are raised in hopes of addressing the controversial dilemma surrounding this biological manipulation. Several films and novels have wrestled with the issue through the narration of fictional characters who find themselves in the eye of the storm, as the products of genetic cloning. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro addresses the bioethical debate in a less direct manner, looking at the issue in a fictional context. Through the eyes of Kathy H. , we are guided through her experiences as a clone growing up in an institution meant to rear the students in humane environments. Ishigurds novel was not written as a means to argue the ethics of cloning, however, his novel Never Let Me Go serves as a reference for the bioethical debate. Kathy H. s narration can help answer the questions of how biologically engineered beings should be treated in elation to their classification as humans or non-humans, as Ishiguro attempts to define humanity through the eyes of a Kathy H. , a clone with experiences much like that of any other ordinary human. Through the analysis of Ishigurds novel and several articles discussing the connections between bioethics and Ishigurds approach to the issue, I will attempt to interpret an answer to the often unconsidered, yet entirely relevant ques tion: what does it mean to be human? Never Let Me Go is set in the backdrop of an alternate society between the 1960s and the 1990s, where scientific and medical advancement have expanded the uman lifespan to surpass 100 years. The story does not intend to give the novel a futuristic feel, in fact the novel centers on the experience of the narrator and her fellow clones rather than focusing on the scientific aspect of their creation. Though we are not told throughout most of the story what the main characters really are, we discover that they are actually a product of cloning, which has become a normal part of society. Thus meaning, society is fully aware that clones are being made and kept, and they also know that they are being used a means to extend the human lifespan. Clones are made from existing humans in a society led by a governmental program that pursues cures for cancer and heart disease with organs extracted from these beings (Storrow). This alone tells us that the government hardly considered the clones to have any sort of rights, not even human rights, from the moment they were created. Simply put, they were treated merely as medical bi-products used to harvest organs that would increase the health of the greater population. The constitution protects humans, yet did not protect these clones from being treated as lab rats. This can be interpreted as a means to define humanity as a result of origin. Because the clones were not naturally produced, but instead created inside of a government lab, they were not considered humane, and were therefore treated otherwise. So can we consider humanity to be a result of origin? more privileged setting that most others of her kind, at a school called Hailsham. In the novel, this is one of the very few institutions that decided to take these biologically engineered beings and allow them to live and grow up in a humane environment. The concept of Hailsham, a school for clones, is another instance of Ishigurds attempt to speculate the definition of humanity. The clones that were kept in labs did not get the chance to experience norma l human interactions, and were not given a chance to learn. Hailsham provided a rather large group of clones, including Kathy, to live with each other and interact on a daily basis like normal humans would. It is revealed towards the end of the novel that Hailshams identity is a social experiment established to prove the humanity of clones, as stated by journalist Rachel Carroll. The students were given the privilege to participate in the ormal rituals that adolescents take in the classrooms at schools to prove that they could interact and behave Just as any other human. Though the clones were removed from the less privileged factories, they were not completely treated as humans. They were merely part of an experiment to test whether they had any humanity in them at all. This experiment caused them to be secluded from society, with caused several childish school rumors to circulate amongst the children about the dangers outside the school borders. The children role-played real life situations uch as that of ordering coffee at a caf? © and were taught the geography of only their immediate location in England. They were cut off from the world and told only what they needed to know. One of their teachers, Miss Lucy, explained to her students one day that they would donate their organs and complete a euphemism used to explain death by donation before they even became middle aged. Therefore, their experience and education was limited because they would never get the chance to explore the outside world. Another teacher Justified their experiment, claiming that if students were reared in humane, cultivated environments, it is possible to grow up to be as sensitive and intelligent as any other ordinary human being (Ishiguro p. 256). They were raised in an environment that was thought to promote or prove their humanity, but the keepers of Hailsham knew that the clones would meet the same fate regardless of their humanity or not. Ishiguro used the very human like setting at Hailsham to say that perhaps it is our environments and our response to those environments that ultimately defines out humanity. Yet in the case of these clones, hose reactions were redundant, because proved human or not, they would still dedicate their lives to preparing to donate their organs for the sake of others. Another important point to take into consideration was Art Gallery that played a major role in the lives of the students at Hailsham. The students were encouraged on a regular basis, and nearly forced, to create works of art, whether it be a painting, story, poem or sculpture. These pieces of art were gathered and the best art would be taken and placed in a special gallery, which the students never saw and knew very little of. Still, the students worked hard, hoping to get their work into the gallery which they knew practically nothing about. When Kathy meets with one of her teachers years after leaving Hailsham, the teacher tells her we took away your art because we thought it would reveal your souls. Or to put it more finely, we did it to humanity, which would be defining it by the creation of art. It is often said that our art bears our souls, that literature is the writers soul expressing itself with paper and pen. It could quite possibly be that our ability to express ourselves creatively allows s to confirm our souls and be determined as human. Kathy H. , raised in Hailsham with her friends Tommy and Ruth, is the most important source for determining the meaning of humanity in regards to Ishigurds novel. Kathy is 31 years old when the novel begins, and she looks back on her life at Hailsham as she understands it now. Because the novel was written in memoir form behind which the contours of the organ banking program are gradually revealed, Ishiguro provides a sound basis for rejecting the position that human clones lack dignity (Storrow). Kathys narration is a strong foundation for the slow reveal of the loning, because the gradual reveal of the truth was used as a method to convince readers that Kathy was human. If Ishiguro had never blatantly stated to the readers that Kathy was in fact a clone, it would have been impossible to call her anything but human. It could have been inferred, due to the clues hidden between the lines all throughout the novel, that something was peculiar about Kathy and her upbringing. Yet to question her humanity would be completely absurd, because her story was rather average. She made friends with fellow Hailsham students, Ruth and Tommy, ust as any other human student would befriend someone in school. She fell in love with Tommy, and eventually lost both Tommy and Ruth when they completed after several donations. Only when the truth of their origin does one begin to question her humanity as readers. Richard Storrow writes that by revealing the details of the organ donation program within the story of a human clone whose life has been define by love and loss and hope, the novel cautions that any move to classify them as lacking the essential elements of personhood will be dishonest (Storrow). Storrow uggests that it is our experiences with love and loss that ultimately define our humanity. This is plausible, because Kathy and her friends suffered death and loss just as any other human would. They argued, they reconciled, they experience the Joy of friendship, and had very normal relations with one another. Quite reasonably, Ishiguro and Storrow suggest that our experience serve as a reference to define our humanity. In conclusion, one must consider that only by the accidental remark and rumors do the characters themselves understand what they truly are. These characters were naware that they were perceived as illegitimate and false in the name of humanity. Even when they do discover what their lives have been laid out to be, they are hardly shocked by the fact, because to some extent they already knew that they were not average. Their seclusion from society deprived them of any sense of any other life they could have possibly lived. Though Ishigurds novel raises several possible answers to the larger question, there is no concrete description that defines humanity. Perhaps it is our origin or our expression and art that reveal ourselves and prove us human. It could even possibly be the nature of the responses we give as a result of our environment. Or perhaps, it is our instinct for survival. It is certain that clones, which will always fuel a heated debate. Legalization of cloning is limited to only a handful of states in America, because one argument will always refute another. Perhaps we have to define humanity for ourselves, not in the name of science, not in the name of public health, but for our own sake. Could we find the answer if we sat down and contemplated the thought, What is it that makes me, as an individual, human?