Diritto al caso. Ignoranza, contingenza e scelte genetiche

In the era of genetic technology many authors invoke a “right to chance”. According to one meaning of chance (chance as ignorance), the corresponding right should protect the prerogative of the individual to not know information about one’s own genetic endowment resulting from genetic testing. The so conceived “right to epistemic chance” is warranted but it has a limited effectiveness in acknowledging and managing moral responsibilities in concrete situations. According to a second meaning, chance is to identified with contingency and the corresponding right protects the biological integrity of the offspring, ruling out whatever genetic intervention to enhance non-pathological traits. The idea of the “right to ontological chance” is unsound because it overestimates the role of contingency in the formation of individual moral identity.