Public Scholars at
Hanover College
Inquiries
Volume Five, Number Two - Winter 2005
Promise or Threat?
In this issue of Inquiries, we depart a bit from our usual format. Instead of a single long essay, we are publishing two shorter pieces that stand in marked contrast to one another. Our purpose is to highlight an important philosophical issue that might otherwise get lost in the heat and smoke of debate over policy.
The policy questions concern genetically modified food (GMF). Is GMF safe for human consumption? Does the proliferation of genetically modified crops threaten the environment? Can genetically modified crops close the gap between a growing world population and scarce agricultural resources-arable land, water, fuels? These questions are at the center of increasingly contentious policy discussions. And it is important to note that there is no consensus among agricultural scientists about the answers to these questions.
But, both of our authors contend, the real debate is a philosophical one. Alex Avery contends that much of the resistance to GMF is really resistance to the cultural changes that modern agricultural technology has wrought-changes in scale, patterns of ownership, and relationships to nature. He argues that this resistance simply cannot be justified in the face of the promise of agricultural biotechnology.
Marti Crouch agrees that cultural change is at the heart of this debate. But she maintains that the introduction of GMF is simply unhealthy for individuals, communities, and nature.
These two essays should help the readers of Inquiries penetrate beyond the often technical and obscure scientific debates about GMF to the equally important philosophical questions that we ignore only at our risk.
John Ahrens
John Ahrens is Professor of Philosophy at Hanover College and an Associate Director of the Center for Free Inquiry.