I use that term rather than the term designated by science because I see the being as human being and those terms tend to hid what they really are, to lessen the impact of what we are speaking of.
So you saying the human zygote is not a distinct, separate, individual human being?
What you are saying goes against numerous scientific and biological texts that recognize the zygote or fetus is precisely that - a human being. I think you have again allowed your illogical thinking to dictate what is true, Frank.
What you do is CONFUSE different STAGES of development with its humanness. If it is not a human being what kind of being is it, because it is alive and is a being.
“Human life begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm (spermatozoo development) unites with a female gamete or oocyte (ovum) to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marked the beginning of each of us as a unique individual.” “A zygote is the beginning of a new human being (i.e., an embryo).”
Keith L. Moore, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 7th edition. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2003. pp. 16, 2.
Keith L. Moore, Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology, 7th edition. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2008. p. 2.
“[The zygote], formed by the union of an oocyte and a sperm, is the beginning of a new human being.”
“[All] organisms, however large and complex they might be as full grown, begin life as a single cell. This is true for the human being, for instance, who begins life as a fertilized ovum.”
Dr. Morris Krieger “The Human Reproductive System” p 88 (1969) Sterling Pub. Co
“The first cell of a new and unique human life begins existence at the moment of conception (fertilization) when one living sperm from the father joins with one living ovum from the mother. It is in this manner that human life passes from one generation to another. Given the appropriate environment and genetic composition, the single cell subsequently gives rise to trillions of specialized and integrated cells that compose the structures and functions of each individual human body. Every human being alive today and, as far as is known scientifically, every human being that ever existed, began his or her unique existence in this manner, i.e., as one cell. If this first cell or any subsequent configuration of cells perishes, the individual dies, ceasing to exist in matter as a living being. There are no known exceptions to this rule in the field of human biology.”
James Bopp, ed., Human Life and Health Care Ethics, vol. 2 (Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, 1985)
Scarr, S., Weinberg, R.A., and Levine A., Understanding Development, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1986. page 86
“The development of a new human being begins when a male’s sperm pierces the cell membrane of a female’s ovum, or egg….The villi become the placenta, which will nourish the developing infant for the next eight and a half months.”
http://www.onlinedebate.net/forums/s...n-debate/page2
Things to consider:
1) Does the human being (please establish it is not a human being) have the same nature that you and I do, if allowed to develop? If it does, then how does development determine a change of nature? Everything needed is supplied at conception - the DNA structure that determines what we are - human beings. Every quality that I will ever have is present at conception, when the chromisomes from each parent are received that form your genetic makeup.
2) If you work on the level of development, then why can't a mother choose to kill the newborn or pre-teen female offspring? Their development is not on the level of a mature woman reproductively. If you want to work on the size of the unborn, you are bigger than the unborn but you are not as big as some basketball players. Would it be okay to kill you because you are not as big?
3) You can't tax a human being until they are in the world and reach a certain maturity. Why would they count as a deduction until they are in the world?
4) A government can legislate rules but the question is whether those rules are just and righteous. Murdering unborn human beings, the most defenseless human there is, and most innocent, is not just or righteous. Kim Jong-Un can pass a law that kills you for whatever reason he may deem desirable to him, but just because there is such a law does not make it just. Of course we can develop this further if you wish, because we are getting into the subject of morality and ethics.
It depends on what I ordered, a cutlet, a roast lamb, a chop, a leg...
I would expect them to bring me what I asked for, not a different stage of development in the life cycle of the animal.
Peter
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