Biological Essentialism

Abstract

The Age in which we inhabit has often been described as an ‘Age of Information’ and an ‘Age of Biology’. The Human Genome Project, which is purposed to uncover the nucleotide sequences of DNA in the different human chromosomes, significantly expresses the confluence of the two characterisations of our Age. But the Age of Biology has brought about a disturbing metaphor, one which presents the gene as a powerful cultural icon that holds the very mystery of life, and determines the future and destiny of humankind. What is emerging is therefore a picture of the gene as the key to understanding the secret of life itself, and a new definition of the human being as a molecular and genetic entity, whose behaviour and culture is shaped by its biologicalgenetic constitution.1 An article from the June 24, 1996 issue of Time Magazine published this quotation from the book Timeless Healing, which very much sums up the Gene Myth that has pervaded the present culture: ‘Our genetic blueprint has made believing in an Infinite Absolute part of our nature’. The recent cloning of Dolly has intensified public interest in genetics and raised a number of important questions and concerns. These questions have to do with genetic determinism. Media report on the so-called discovery of the ‘obesity’ gene, the ‘criminal gene’ or ‘novelty seeking gene’ has resulted in similar concerns.2 These concerns have been succinctly articulated thus: ‘Do genes make us who we are? If we knew all the factors completely, would we find that our actions are fully determined?’3