Creating Humans – Ethics of Scientific Progress: Frankenstein and Heart of a Dog

Abstract

Technical progress has often led us to ethical considerations, including the situations when technical development can go too far. Literature has long taken the deepest interest in natural sciences, at some points with reference to recent or future inventions, sometimes by far extending the technical possibilities of their time. One of the most popular technical mind plays has been the creation of the artificial human, the so called homunculus - both in science and literature. This work looks at Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Michail Bulgakov's Heart of a Dog in terms of how each of them, respectively, reflects ethical concerns connected to the process of making a man, questioning motivation and responsibility of the scientist, and consequences for both a creator and a creature. Two literary examples are both mystical and alchemical elements, as well as the inclusion of actual natural science practices. Clear ethical concerns are expressed in both examples, and at different levels. Scientist are individuals who are eager to make scientific progress, transcend their competences and therefore, have to reckon dramatic interventions in the life. The main failure is a lack of responsibility for the creature they create.