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Jozrael · 06-04-2009, 10:57 AM

I'm going to bring up a new concept here, that of personhood. Basically, when I say 'person', I mean 'being with the right to life'.

There are a couple criteria I have for ascribing personhood to a being, but critically important of them is self-awareness. They have to be able to differentiate themselves from the world around them, and have a concept of past and future. Clearly, human beings fall into such a category. However, there are several cases where they do not.

A fetus, an infant, and a comatose vegetable all fall into this category of not being a person. None of them are self-aware. Therefore, I don't simply subscribe the right to life to them. An infant, for example, I find it no more appalling to murder than a dog, in terms of what they can comprehend. (I'm not a horrible person, I swear, let me finish lol).

However, I have a concept of 'future personhood', that with reasonable expectations this person will at some point in the future be of such a state that they DO have self-awareness. A fetus and an infant, circumstances notwithstanding, will eventually grow to be adult human beings, with all the rights attributive to such. A comatose man, in certain conditions, will be expected to be revivable (or have the CHANCE to be revivable) to a normal state of consciousness. (Braindead is a separate matter).

Therefore, just as I imagine it is inhumane to pull the plug on a comatose human that has a great chance of being revived the very next day (or an arbitrary point in the future), I believe it is inhumane to abort a fetus or kill an infant. All three are equally immoral to me, because you are violating the right to life of that future person. So how far back does this go? Well, it's arguable. Conception I'd say. Some might even argue prior to: using birth control is preventing that future person from even being conceived, isn't it? But I think you must limit your reasoning at some point.

So while I would never posit that a fetus is 'alive', persay...it will one day be. And that's why I think abortion is murder.

Some great cognitive dissonance there with my current practices, eh?

06-04-2009, 10:57 AM	#63 (permalink)
Jozrael Junkie	I'm going to bring up a new concept here, that of personhood. Basically, when I say 'person', I mean 'being with the right to life'. There are a couple criteria I have for ascribing personhood to a being, but critically important of them is self-awareness. They have to be able to differentiate themselves from the world around them, and have a concept of past and future. Clearly, human beings fall into such a category. However, there are several cases where they do not. A fetus, an infant, and a comatose vegetable all fall into this category of not being a person. None of them are self-aware. Therefore, I don't simply subscribe the right to life to them. An infant, for example, I find it no more appalling to murder than a dog, in terms of what they can comprehend. (I'm not a horrible person, I swear, let me finish lol). However, I have a concept of 'future personhood', that with reasonable expectations this person will at some point in the future be of such a state that they DO have self-awareness. A fetus and an infant, circumstances notwithstanding, will eventually grow to be adult human beings, with all the rights attributive to such. A comatose man, in certain conditions, will be expected to be revivable (or have the CHANCE to be revivable) to a normal state of consciousness. (Braindead is a separate matter). Therefore, just as I imagine it is inhumane to pull the plug on a comatose human that has a great chance of being revived the very next day (or an arbitrary point in the future), I believe it is inhumane to abort a fetus or kill an infant. All three are equally immoral to me, because you are violating the right to life of that future person. So how far back does this go? Well, it's arguable. Conception I'd say. Some might even argue prior to: using birth control is preventing that future person from even being conceived, isn't it? But I think you must limit your reasoning at some point. So while I would never posit that a fetus is 'alive', persay...it will one day be. And that's why I think abortion is murder. Some great cognitive dissonance there with my current practices, eh?