The Genome and the Law: Should Increased Genetic Knowledge Change the Law?

Abstract

The title of this symposium asks: "Does scientific knowledge change the law?" On one level, the answer is obvious: of course, science and technology are always changing the law? As a matter of positive description, law is an integral part of a culture, and as cultural knowledge and beliefs about human nature change, law inevitably changes with them. But the more interesting and important question is the normative one: how should our law change in light of increasing knowledge of the human genome? That will be a central question occupying legal thought in coming decades as progress in genetics changes not only our understanding of human nature, but also our ability to manipulate human nature.