RE: I am a pro-life atheist
February 26, 2012 at 7:28 am
(This post was last modified: February 26, 2012 at 7:30 am by NoMoreFaith.)
(February 25, 2012 at 9:06 pm)Tiberius Wrote: This is obviously a contentious issue for people, and for the sake of forum civility, I'm not going to make any public statements on it again.
Unfortunate. I was looking forward to your answers to direct civil questions. Your prerogative not to do so.
(February 26, 2012 at 2:29 am)Undeceived Wrote: You’re working on your third-story roof with a friend. He slips but just catches hold of an electrical cord. He’s hanging thirty feet over a concrete sidewalk. Do you have the right to cut the cord? It’s yours.
The analogy has faults. In order to be true we must assert that a zygote = adult human being or at least is has equivalent status.
Which is a bit of a shame, I was looking forward to cryogenically freezing zygotes with my wife and claiming them as dependent children for tax purposes. The best laid plans.....
In moral terms we commit harm to an individual. While the harm principle is not a foolproof moral method, I do believe it is the most useful option, and most relevant to the moral problem of abortion.
You cannot in any real sense do harm to a zygote beyond removing potentiality. Cutting the cord to your friend however commits harm to his person (important distinction right there). He has thoughts and feelings, and is a person in every sense of the word.
Its tempting to look at the removal of potentiality as doing great harm, however this is open to an absolute boatload of valid reductio ad absurdium.
"Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is great
If a sperm is wasted, god gets quite irate"
I see no reason to go in depth as to the difference between an electrical cord and umbilical cord but I will if you want.
Self-authenticating private evidence is useless, because it is indistinguishable from the illusion of it. ― Kel, Kelosophy Blog
If you’re going to watch tele, you should watch Scooby Doo. That show was so cool because every time there’s a church with a ghoul, or a ghost in a school. They looked beneath the mask and what was inside?
The f**king janitor or the dude who runs the waterslide. Throughout history every mystery. Ever solved has turned out to be. Not Magic. ― Tim Minchin, Storm
If you’re going to watch tele, you should watch Scooby Doo. That show was so cool because every time there’s a church with a ghoul, or a ghost in a school. They looked beneath the mask and what was inside?
The f**king janitor or the dude who runs the waterslide. Throughout history every mystery. Ever solved has turned out to be. Not Magic. ― Tim Minchin, Storm
