From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Tue Aug 07 2001 - 22:48:11 MDT
Adrian Tymes writes
> Some say that, whenever faced with [the] choice, the only ethical
> decision is to raise the embryo - but I disagree, and I suspect most
> people on this list also do.
Some people do not wish the embryo raised because they selfishly
don't want it to compromise their lifestyle. That is their complete
(legal) right, IMO, or should be. But they should admit that they
are being quite selfish, denying life to someone.
> Certainly, if the owners of the embryo wish to raise it, then it
> should be raised. But if they do not, then they may dispose of the
> tissue as they see fit - up to the point where it can survive
> independent of life support
I agree.
> The mere potential future existence of an organism does not, in itself,
> grant the potential organism any right to live, especially if its life
> would detract from the quality of life of previously existing organisms.
What do you mean "right"? Do you mean there should not be a legal right
for that organism to come into being (I agree)? I don't know what else
you could mean here.
> ...Otherwise, the only ethical activity for all human beings would be
> constant, ceaseless reproduction, tempered only by the need to ensure
> that newborns reach puberty.
The *only* ethical activity? I'm sure that you don't mean to put that
in anyone's mouth. You are probably criticizing the view that I hold,
namely, that all other things being equal, there should be the maximum
number possible of beings who can enjoy being alive. Further, we should
strive to create as many as we possibly can, short of severely compromising
the quality of our own lives (for the sake of our aforementioned selfishness).
> Put another way: if the matter which comprises you were to be
> reassembled into a different person, with nature rerolling the dice to
> come up with something completely random, would the average expected
> quality be higher or lower than what you have achieved?
:-) IMNSHO, the expected quality would be worse.
Lee
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:09:34 MST