Having decided to analyse the bioethical issues from a philosophy perspective, I had to decide which philosophical theories I would consider in my analysis. In my research it became obvious that the moral and social aspects of CRISPR were key concerns so I decided to focus on theories that dealt with moral philosophy, from a traditional duty-based sense (Kant) contrasted with a modern form of consequentialism (Glover). Initially I found myself simply regurgitating theories which didn’t help me answer the hard questions. So I changed my approach and started asking a lot of “whys” – I questioned why there needs to be moral guideposts in this context and to what extent CRISPR-Cas9 can be morally defended. This new approach led me to think about when Kant’s and Glover’s theories could or could not apply and to look at my research material more critically and ask questions they did not answer.
