The “wisdom of nature” argument in contemporary bioethics

Abstract

The “wisdom of nature” is a concept that appears with some frequency in bioethics, especially in literature on the ethics of biotechnology. This paper explores the function that an appeal to “nature’s wisdom” plays in such arguments, and finds that while a defensible version of the principle can be articulated, it must be grounded in highly contentious theological or metaphysical presuppositions. Attempts by secular bioethicists to replace these presuppositions with scientific analogues have so far failed. Meanwhile, attenuated versions of the principle based on assumptions about human nature cannot sustain the argumentative burden of their more robust cousins, and are better described as appeals to humanity’s foolishness than to nature’s wisdom.