Re-defining the Human: Triumphs and Tribulations of Homo xeroxiens

Abstract

In the endless human quest for understanding the nature of life, cloning represents a new fundamental paradigm. Making a major departure from the normative mode of reproduction, it forces a new division of genetic endowment. Consequently, biological identity and individuality come to acquire new meanings. The inherent instrumentalism of cloning thus advances the dependence of moral choices in society. Ultimately, it manifests itself in the trinity of instrumentalism, namely: objectification, reductionism, and determinism. This, more than anything else, is the epic of contingency of the episteme. A contingent episteme in turn assumes the role of a moral arbitrator. This paper argues that cloning is the most potent catalyst for the emergence of neo-Genesis. The technological reincarnation then is merely a function of the inevitable evolution of the technique. Legislative controls on the technique itself simply betray the underlying moral contingency. It is asserted that irrespective of these controls, eventually, cloned human beings would be a reality. The dilemma faced by us, therefore, is not the challenge of technique but judgement on the moral future of human society. Is the "new birth" also the birth of a new norm? An unfolding of a new world of identity, rights, responsibilities, and a worldview?