Listen to a short interview with Michael Sandel. Host: Chris Gondek. Producer: Heron & Crane. Breakthroughs in genetics present us with a promise and a predicament. The promise is that we will soon be able to treat and prevent a host of debilitating diseases. The predicament is that our newfound genetic knowledge may enable us to manipulate our nature - to enhance our genetic traits and those of our children. Although most people find at least some forms of genetic engineering disquieting, it is not easy to articulate why. What is wrong with re-engineering our nature? "The Case against Perfection" explores these and other moral quandaries connected with the quest to perfect ourselves and our children. Michael Sandel argues that the pursuit of perfection is flawed for reasons that go beyond safety and fairness. The drive to enhance human nature through genetic technologies is objectionable because it represents a bid for mastery and dominion that fails to appreciate the gifted character of human powers and achievements. Carrying us beyond familiar terms of political discourse, this book contends that the genetic revolution will change the way philosophers discuss ethics and will force spiritual questions back onto the political agenda. In order to grapple with the ethics of enhancement, we need to confront questions largely lost from view in the modern world. Since these questions verge on theology, modern philosophers and political theorists tend to shrink from them. But our new powers of biotechnology make these questions unavoidable. Addressing them is the task of this book, by one of America's preeminent moral and political thinkers.

【美】迈克尔•桑德尔 Michael J. Sandel美国哈佛大学政府系讲座教授，哲学家。他在哈佛大学讲授的“公正”课程是最受学生欢迎的课程，该课程被制作成哈佛公开课后在网络广为流传，成为风靡全球的哲学公开课。主要学术代表作有《自由主义与正义的局限》、《民主的不满》等，其中大部分已被翻译成德、法、中、日等十多种文字。已出版的《公正》和《金钱不能买什么》风靡多个国家，具有深远的文化影响力。