Nature's End: The Theological Meaning of the New Genetics‪.‬

EVER SINCE THE ANCIENT GREEKS, the ethical tradition of the West has been powerfully dominated by claims about human nature. Such an intellectual orientation has an eminently practical value. If we can indicate features common to all humanity as the basis of a moral principle, we at least have a common point of reference with which others can conceivably come to agree. Moral and political deliberation may then be reduced to a debate about the precise meaning and application of shared moral principles--and not the much more contentious question of the ultimate ground of such principles. We can see how prevalent the Western appeal to human nature is by considering two quite different thinkers. Aristotle