Breaking Bioethics Special Section: In Pursuit of Perfect People:
The Ethics of Enhancement
Normal Functioning and the Treatment-Enhancement Distinction
NORMAN DANIELS a1 a1 Philosophy Department, at Tufts University
and the National Cancer Policy Board
Abstract
The treatment-enhancement distinction draws a line
between services or interventions meant to prevent or cure
(or otherwise ameliorate) conditions that we view as diseases
or disabilities and interventions that improve a condition
that we view as a normal function or feature of members
of our species. The line drawn here is widely appealed
to in medical practice and medical insurance contexts,
as well as in our everyday thinking about the medical
services we do and should assist people in obtaining.
