If I could just stop loving you: anti-love biotechnology and the ethics of a chemical breakup
- PMID: 24161170
- PMCID: PMC3898540
- DOI: 10.1080/15265161.2013.839752
If I could just stop loving you: anti-love biotechnology and the ethics of a chemical breakup
Abstract
"Love hurts"-as the saying goes-and a certain amount of pain and difficulty in intimate relationships is unavoidable. Sometimes it may even be beneficial, since adversity can lead to personal growth, self-discovery, and a range of other components of a life well-lived. But other times, love can be downright dangerous. It may bind a spouse to her domestic abuser, draw an unscrupulous adult toward sexual involvement with a child, put someone under the insidious spell of a cult leader, and even inspire jealousy-fueled homicide. How might these perilous devotions be diminished? The ancients thought that treatments such as phlebotomy, exercise, or bloodletting could "cure" an individual of love. But modern neuroscience and emerging developments in psychopharmacology open up a range of possible interventions that might actually work. These developments raise profound moral questions about the potential uses-and misuses-of such anti-love biotechnology. In this article, we describe a number of prospective love-diminishing interventions, and offer a preliminary ethical framework for dealing with them responsibly should they arise.
Comment in
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The difficult case of voluntariness as autonomy in anti-love biotechnology.Am J Bioeth. 2013;13(11):1-2. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2013.850918. Am J Bioeth. 2013. PMID: 24161169 No abstract available.
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Anti-love biotechnologies: integrating considerations of the social.Am J Bioeth. 2013;13(11):18-9. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2013.839771. Am J Bioeth. 2013. PMID: 24161171 No abstract available.
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The vice of in-principlism and the harmfulness of love.Am J Bioeth. 2013;13(11):19-21. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2013.839769. Am J Bioeth. 2013. PMID: 24161172 No abstract available.
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Anti-love biotechnology: was it not better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?Am J Bioeth. 2013;13(11):22-3. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2013.839770. Am J Bioeth. 2013. PMID: 24161173 No abstract available.
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The heart outright: a comment on "if I could just stop loving you".Am J Bioeth. 2013;13(11):24-5. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2013.839773. Am J Bioeth. 2013. PMID: 24161174 No abstract available.
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Involuntary exposures to love-enhancing or anti-love agents.Am J Bioeth. 2013;13(11):26-7. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2013.839758. Am J Bioeth. 2013. PMID: 24161175 No abstract available.
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When love hurts children: controlling the feelings of minors.Am J Bioeth. 2013;13(11):28-9. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2013.839754. Am J Bioeth. 2013. PMID: 24161176 No abstract available.
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A Thomistic account of anti-love biotechnology.Am J Bioeth. 2013;13(11):30-1. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2013.839753. Am J Bioeth. 2013. PMID: 24161177 No abstract available.
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An error theory of biotechnology and the ethics of chemical breakups: it is the reasons, not the pharmaceuticals, that are important in defending against perilous love.Am J Bioeth. 2013;13(11):32-4. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2013.839762. Am J Bioeth. 2013. PMID: 24161178 No abstract available.
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Amantes sunt amentes: pathologizing love and the meaning of suffering.Am J Bioeth. 2013;13(11):34-6. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2013.839759. Am J Bioeth. 2013. PMID: 24161179 No abstract available.
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Anti-love or anti-"lifestyle": historical reflections on reparative therapies for homosexuality.Am J Bioeth. 2013;13(11):36-8. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2013.840869. Am J Bioeth. 2013. PMID: 24161180 No abstract available.
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An error theory of biotechnology and the ethics of chemical breakups: it is the reasons, not the pharmaceuticals, that are important in defending against perilous love.Am J Bioeth. 2013;13(11):32-4. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2013.839762. Am J Bioeth. 2013. PMID: 24161178 No abstract available.
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