Biohacking Love and the Norms of Relationships

Biohacking love-that is, using drugs either to enhance or diminish lust, attraction, and/or attachment-is currently feasible (although imperfectly so). It is likely that in the future, scientists will develop drugs that target lust, attraction, and attachment more accurately than anything currently available, thereby opening up possibilities for people to use such drugs to leave or remain in a relationship. Several scholars have recently argued for the desirability and moral permissibility of using such love drugs. However, we argue that it is most often morally impermissible to use love drugs as interventions in relationships. In particular, we argue that using love drugs is most often incompatible with adhering to the norms of relationships, such as the moral requirement that people in relationships relate to each other virtuously.