Heloise Robinson announces a call for papers for a special issue of the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry on the role of the history of eugenics within contemporary debates over human enhancement.

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On the 24^th of March 2025, a conference was held at the University of Oxford, on the following topic: “History, Eugenics, and Human Enhancement: How the Past Can Inform Ethical Debates in the Present”. The conference was supported by TORCH Medical Humanities, the Uehiro Oxford Institute, and the Stanford Boundaries of Humanities Project. It was convened by Andrew Moeller (associate member of the Faculty of History, University of Oxford), Jose Maria Andres Porras (Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and associate member of the Faculty of History, University of Oxford), and Alberto Giubilini (Senior Research Fellow, Uehiro Oxford Institute). This conference focused on human enhancement in the past and in the present day, and addressed questions that surrounded, for example, the relevance of the role of historians, philosophers or other scholars in moral debates on enhancement, and on the relevance of certain topics and time periods to debates on enhancement proposals. The conference included lively and important discussions, and contributions from scholars in a range of fields.

Following on from this conference, the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry will be publishing a symposium issue, on the following topic: “The Role of the History of Eugenics within Contemporary Ethical Debates over Human Enhancement”. This issue is being edited by two of the conference convenors (Andrew Moeller and Jose Maria Andres Porras), as well as by myself. Although the idea for the special issue originates from the above-mentioned conference, contributions are welcome from anyone interested in the topic, and do not require any association with the conference itself. Submissions are invited from a variety of academic disciplines, including bioethics, disability studies, philosophy, history, law, social and political sciences, psychology, and anthropology. As convenors we are especially interested in encouraging collaboration and co-authoring between scholars from different disciplines, or with different or opposing viewpoints.

Photo Credit: Pickpik. Image Description: A picture of exposed tree roots.

An important aim of this symposium issue will be to include contributions which examine how the history of eugenics informs current debates (including ethical, legal and social debates) on human enhancement technologies, and which include genetic testing technologies, prenatal screening, and genome editing. As mentioned in the submission guidelines, we are interested for example in contributions which would address the following topics:

• How can the history of eugenics outside of North America and Europe, or outside of the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries, inform contemporary debates over human enhancement and/or the use of term “eugenics”?
• What shared visions of living well or the “good life,” and corresponding metaphysical beliefs, undergird historical and contemporary support for practices aimed at enhancement? How are these visions to be assessed?
• What entrenched positions in regard to the history of eugenics / uses of that history call for re-evaluation?
• What does it mean to “reckon” with the legacies of eugenics? Have recent “reckonings” been successful?
• Wherein do we find eugenic thought, rhetoric, and practice persisting into the present day? And to what extent does this modern-day eugenic thought and practice build upon past thought and practice? How might the past serve to meaningfully critique this present?
• What methodological approaches to the history of eugenics may serve to challenge or avoid simplistic or reductive readings of that history, as well as possible confirmation or selection bias in the reading of history?
• How might the history of eugenics meaningfully inform efforts aimed at human enhancement that do not normally involve the selection for inborn traits?

The special issue should give contributors an important opportunity to help shape the discourse on ethical deliberations pertaining to eugenics, including in relation to any relevance of these deliberations to modern-day practices that allow for some control over inborn traits. While the history of eugenics has already received significant attention in the literature, there is nevertheless room to consider certain questions further, including those which relate to the potential relevance of this history to contemporary debates and practices. Given that the journal issue will be encouraging an interdisciplinary approach, it also offers contributors an opportunity to take part in shaping debates across a number of different disciplines.

As convenors we look forward to putting together what we hope will be a very important contribution to current debates on human enhancement and eugenics.

The deadline for submissions is the 1^st of September 2026, and further information about submission can be found here.

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Heloise Robinson is a Lecturer in Law at St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford.