Artificial vs. Natural: Redefining Nature Through Reproductive Technology
Joan Bestard: Artificial and Natural – What is Nature?
JOAN BESTARD. “ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL: WHAT IS NATURE? Reproductive technology has set a new context for what is natural and the process of reproduction. The greater the intervention in nature by breeding techniques, the increased social anxiety that occurs. This anxiety isn’t so much about the legal or social status of the new individual (who is his father and mother can be resolved legally) but by how social relationships can be affected. When nature (reproduction) cannot survive without the intervention of culture (reproductive technology), there is a conceptual collapse over the differences between nature and culture. The relationship has ceased to be a natural reference (sexual intercourse) and dissolved into technical and cultural manipulation. Not all kinship systems respond to the same model of cultural reproduction. A culture is complex as it departs from the “natural” procreation model of kinship. Technology cannot determine who the real ancestors of an individual are, requiring a differentiation between real and genetic ancestors. The ascending relationship can no longer refer to the natural facts of reproduction (inbreeding) when the criterion of nature has ceased to exist in the discussions on ways of procreation.
Value and Differentiation
A person is defined as having its origin in a shared substance (the placenta) and relationships (mother to child). What makes a person different from one another is not their genetic origin, but the relationships that are established during pregnancy, birth, and upbringing – unique experiences and unique bonds. The distinction makes a person a specific individual, with a fixed position in a network of relatives, resulting in infinite variability.
Paradoxes of Reproductive Technology: The Subversion of the Symbolic Order of Kinship
Reproductive technology opens up different possibilities for human reproduction but, above all, makes it possible for people who are infertile to have children. It may appear to be discriminatory not to allow these people access to these techniques, but it is important to clear the social uncertainty as to their possibilities and consequences.
Individual and Society: Kinship as Such
Kinship, considered as a set of relationships, can be viewed from two perspectives: the individual as the center of kinship relations, and the individual as a result of these relations. The individual contributes to society, and society shapes the individual. Individuals form networks of relationships, and society is the systematization of these networks. Society is a set of single relationships that lies above individual wills. Reproductive technology is a subversion of the principle that the individual is to society as society is to the individual, and suggests that both elements exist separately.
First Subversion: Nature Too
Pursuing a genetic identity, it is possible to think of cloning, which allows the reproduction of an individual self-identical. However, this breaks the idea of kinship relationships between individuals.
Second Subversion: Culture Too
This occurs through anonymity of donors (semen), thus missing the individuals that make possible social relations.
Incest
Daughter oocytes cannot be donated to her mother, nor can a brother donate sperm to his sister, as this would be a case of incest. However, matching grants (from brother to brother or sister to sister) are perceived differently, as they are considered useful to ensure that the genes remain in the family. It is proposed to reduce the number of sperm donations per person to prevent future involuntary incest. It is worth noting how to exaggerate the medical and genetic implications of unconscious incest or marriage within the prohibited degrees.
Types of Mother and Father
The figure of the mother is divided into different potential figures to the extent that the functions of motherhood are fragmented. Thus, there are different types of mother:
- Genetics or Biological Mother: the woman who provides the eggs.
- “Uterine or Surrogate Mother: the woman who gestates the embryo (“Genetrix”).”
- Social Mother: the woman who raises the newly born (“Mater”.)