The Case against Perfection explores 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.

Acknowledgments -- The Ethics of Enhancement -- Bionic Athletes -- Designer Children, Designing Parents -- The Old Eugenics and New -- Mastery and Gift -- Epilogue, Embryo Ethics: The Stem Cell Debate -- Notes -- Index.