Wow, thank you for dropping that scientific truth bomb on me, I totally thought we started out as a different species.
The reason I said "a human" life is because legally and ethically, "a human life" not does not necessarily begin at whatever point you are saying that biology tells us it begins at. I would have thought it was obvious that I wasn't trying to suggest that the embryo is actually a part of another species until a certain point. My point was that something which is biologically alive, and a part of the human species, still isn't necessarily legally or ethically a living human being. Which is what atmosfear was pointing out by saying that the "beginning of life" is a culturally-defined point.
Within the contexts of themselves and for their own purposes, yes they do. Whether that definition is 'correct' with respect to biological science is a different question, but legal and ethical systems do generate their own definitions of human life which are what are what will be used (and thus are what matter) with regard to the questions those systems address.Originally Posted by ephekt
Maybe so; I don't necessarily disagree. Atmosfear's point--that in practice, such definitions are often made on a cultural basis--nevertheless is true.Originally Posted by ephekt
He wasn't asking a question, though. He was stating that legal and ethical definitions of personhood are culturally, not medically, set; again, I feel that this should have been obvious even though his language was a bit loose and he said "beginning of life".Originally Posted by ephekt
EDIT:
See, this is exactly where the cultural definitions come in. You think that the point of gestation is the obvious point to put a "bright line", but that's merely a personal and arbitrary judgment call on your part. Someone else might just as reasonably think that the obvious place to put the bright line is at birth, or at conception, or at implantation, or at whatever point the fetus can survive outside the womb (26 weeks at the absolute earliest, I think), or any other point really.To add something beyond the niggling... Gestation (around 8 weeks iirc) is when all the internal organs are in place and limbs and genitalia are nearly fully formed. This is also the point where a we start calling it a fetus rather than embryo. If there is a need for a bright line, it probably ought to be there.
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