Savulescu summary 1

Summary of Persson and Savulescu: “Moral Transhumanism

In this article, Persson and Savulescu discuss moral transhumanism by evaluating what is means to be part of the human species, the human moral psych, and societies moral shortcomings, all in an effort to show the importance of enhancing humans’ moral ability.

1.      The Superficiality of Species Membership

Persson and Savulescu begin their argument by highlighting that the way we view species membership is full of paradoxes and counterintuitive ideas.

-        They begin by explaining that humans as a whole view our membership of the Homo sapiens species to give us some sort of especially high moral status. The authors argue that this ideology thus makes the claim that species membership is an essential property of an organism that determines its nature.