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Accepted Paper:
Technologies of cloning and our human future: a Shia theological perspective
Shirin Naef
(University of Zurich)
Paper short abstract:
The paper will focus on technologies of cloning and their social consequences from the viewpoint of Shia jurisprudence.
Paper long abstract:
My research has examined the Iranian debates surrounding assisted reproductive technologies through multi-sited-ethnographic fieldwork conducted since 2005 in Iran combined with a textual approach. Many Shia scholars - in legal and theoretical terms- consider a clone as offspring and not a sibling and define a lineage - either paternal or maternal- for it. My focus in this paper is to offer an analysis of the viewpoints of some leading Shia authorities, among whom Ayatollah Mo'men's -a prominent Shia religious authorities- legal contributions stand out. As he views cloning as a new form of reproduction, the present paper makes an effort to shed light on how he defines human cloning, and its particular relevance to issues of the 'future of human nature' and the 'good life'.