Claims by a young Chinese researcher to have produced the first people born with edited genomes have been met with alarm by many scientists. But beyond the medical risks, a senior analytical philosopher considers the deeper ethical problems of attempting to overcome human nature

Anyone who has had the good ­fortune to see the magnificent exhibition of paintings by Mantegna and Bellini at the National Gallery in London (continuing until 29 January) will have been struck by their attention to the human form: at once expert in rendering contour, proportion and volume but also perceptive in capturing or expressing posture, gesture and meaning.

Some of those depicted, such as Loredan, Doge of Venice, are great and famous; others, like the shepherds approaching the Virgin and child, are humble and anonymous; and in the figure of Jesus, whether as cradled infant, crucified man or resurrected saviour, the artists endeavour to show us the transcendent in and beyond nature.

However ancient the period, unfamiliar the setting or dramatic the scene, the human form appears as a constant: a common element in art, history, philosophy, politics and religion. Anthropology and the interpretation of ancient texts and artefacts are made possible by, and confirm, the commonality of human­kind. As the Roman dramatist and former slave Terence wrote: “I am human and nothing human is alien to me.” To endorse this maxim is not to say that no human condition is better or worse than any other, for there is both soundness and defect of body, mind and spirit. But both good and bad are identified by reference to the human form, considered not just physiologically, but psychologically, morally and spiritually.