Virtue ethics in the works of Misbah Yazdi and the challenges of genetic enhancement of personality

Introduction:Today, due to remarkable advances in the field of genetic engineering, manipulations of the human genome pursue goals beyond treating genetic diseases, and biotechnology has placed human enhancement and the improvement of physical and personality traits among its long-term objectives. Despite this promising perspective, personality enhancement has also created ethical challenges. This article, based on the virtue ethics and drawing on the interpretation of Professor Mesbah Yazdi, addresses the question of whether genetic enhancement of personality can create a serious obstacle to virtuousness and jeopardize the process of moral development?
Findings: The genetic enhancement of personality by stabilizing positive personality traits and moral virtues may face challenges by eliminating the foundation of free choice and dismantling the field of struggle with vices, as virtue is achieved through opposing base desires and choosing virtues in the battlefield of vices. Another problem that emerges in genetic enhancement of personality is the impossibility of identifying an optimal state in behavior and on the path to virtue. Unlike biological characteristics, it is not possible to speak of virtues being fixed in all circumstances; indeed, in some specific conditions a trait may be considered a virtue, while in other conditions it may not be. In such cases, no fixed criterion can be provided to identify moral virtues and to enhance human traits
Discussion: Gene enhancement of personality is a novel method in biotechnology
that enables manipulation of the human genome to improve personality traits and an individual's psychological characteristics. Despite offering remarkable opportunities in the field of personality gene enhancement, many bioethicists have voiced their opposition, citing concerns such as the creation of social disparities and discrimination, the emergence of unwanted and adverse physical and psychological side effects, the erosion of human values and personal identity, and the disruption of the natural balance and proportionality among people with different talents in society. Alongside these general concerns, another challenge addressed in this paper is the risks this new technology poses to virtuousness and the cultivation of virtues. Virtue ethics is one of the major schools in normative ethics that, instead of focusing on the consequences of actions or on duties and rules, concentrates on the individual's internal moral characteristics—or moral virtues—and aims to cultivate a benevolent, virtuous human. Virtue ethicists in the contemporary era have attempted to commit to the ancient Aristotelian tradition and to consider the nature of virtue in defining moral value, while also paying attention to the scope of action and the social arena, and linking virtue to the cultivation of good people and a healthy society. Professor Misbah Yazdi's view can be considered a reading of the school of virtue ethics in moral philosophy, which is based on Islamic teachings. From his perspective, a moral act is an act that lays the groundwork for the realization of human perfection, and its practice brings the moral agent closer to the perfection befitting his species. This realization and flourishing of talents is the ultimate happiness that the Holy Quran has interpreted as prosperity and salvation. From his perspective, virtue and moral value are formed when the moral agent, among all the actions he desires, chooses an action that is in line with the ideal perfection worthy of the human species. Therefore, the element of choice and freedom plays a fundamental role in realizing virtue. He also believes that all moral values are absolute and are not subject to individual taste or agreement, although the judgment regarding some subjects is qualified; this means that, relative to the specific conditions and constraints in which a subject is situated, moral value can vary. By adopting this definition of virtue and the core elements of virtuousness, the outcomes of applying genetic engineering in the realm of personality enhancement can be evaluated. Since free will and choice are among the key elements in the realization of virtue, directing human nature toward choosing virtues without free will raises the concern that the behavior produced by the individual would not qualify as a virtue and would have no effect on the person's moral perfection. On the other hand, any genetic manipulation requires a strategy to identify the superior and optimal state. In the moral domain, determining which trait is ethically optimal is difficult, because moral values have many explicit and implicit constraints that may change under different circumstances and turn a virtue into a vice; therefore, except in limited cases, one cannot speak of general moral principles that have a fixed moral value and count as virtues in all situations.