“Now it might be suggested that cloning is sometimes worse because, where it is done for the sake of the person cloned, it is also an act of narcissism. The being cloned wants a physical replica of himself. Thus the clone is treated as a means to the narcissistic ends of the person cloned. Now there might indeed be some people who will wish to have themselves cloned for narcissistic reasons, but others may want to be cloned for other reasons (perhaps because it is their only or best chance of reproducing). Moreover, the argument from narcissism assumes that ordinary reproduction is not narcissistic. But why should we think that that is always the case? There could well be something self-adulating in the desire to produce offspring. Those who adopt children or do not have children at all could advance the narcissistic objection against non-clonal reproduction with as much (or as little) force as non-clonal reproducers do in criticizing cloning. They could argue that it is narcissistic for a couple to want to create a child in their combined image, from a mixture of their genes. The point is that both cloning and usual methods of reproduction may be narcissistic, but neither is it the case that each kind of reproduction must necessarily be characterized in this way.”
―
Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence
Share this quote:
Friends Who Liked This Quote
To see what your friends thought of this quote, please sign up!
9 likes
All Members Who Liked This Quote
This Quote Is From

2,176 ratings, average rating, 344 reviews
Open Preview
Browse By Tag
- love (101143)
- life (79137)
- inspirational (75685)
- humor (44279)
- philosophy (30879)
- inspirational-quotes (28802)
- god (26832)
- truth (24694)
- wisdom (24527)
- romance (24310)
- poetry (23201)
- life-lessons (22557)
- quotes (20927)
- death (20511)
- travel (19145)
- happiness (18925)
- hope (18497)
- faith (18350)
- inspiration (17273)
- spirituality (15664)
- relationships (15475)
- religion (15354)
- motivational (15263)
- life-quotes (15262)
- love-quotes (15085)
- writing (14923)
- success (14161)
- motivation (13106)
- time (12825)
- motivational-quotes (12083)