Myths of Invention: Law and the Ignorance About Genetics

Abstract

This article argues that the modern legal concept of invention is based on an ‘ignorance about genetics.’ The ignorance about genetics refers in general to the forms of imagination about biological reproduction in western philosophy. Adriana Cavarero’s rewriting of the patriarchal form of the ignorance about genetics is extended to biological inventions. This article explores a general notion of biological invention in law and genetics and how intellectual property law continues to be based on myths of parthenogenesis. Such a myth is an image of genealogy based on the name of the father (law). But that is not the only possible genealogy. Clarice Lispector’s novel A Breath of Life is a good starting point.