Author:
Hershenov David,Hershenov Rose
Abstract
Abstract
A number of philosophers maintain that the destruction of an embryo in the first 2 weeks after fertilization is not morally problematic as it is metaphysically impossible for any human organism to then have existed. We contend that the typical adult human organism was once a zygote so there is no metaphysical shortcut to justify early abortion. We show that five arguments against human organisms ever having been zygotes fail. All of the arguments have to do with one variant or another of the zygote or early embryo dividing. They do not provide any reason to believe that since some adult organisms are not identical to zygotes due to earlier divisions, none could have been.
Reference55 articles.
1. Alberts, Bruce. Molecular Biology of the Cell. 4th ed. New York: Garland Science, 2002.
2. Beckwith, Frances. Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case against Abortion Choice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
3. Brogaard, Berit. “The Moral Status of the Human Embryo: The Twinning Argument.” In Biomedical Ethics: Humanist Perspectives of Humanism Today, edited by Howard B. Radest, 81-88. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2006.
4. Burgess, John. “Could a Zygote Be a Human Being?” Bioethics 24, no. 2 (2010): 61-70.
5. Carlson, Bruce M. Human Embryology and Developmental Biology. Philadelphia, PA: Mosby, 2009.
Cited by
2 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献，注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献，订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献
1. What Happens When the Zygote Divides? On the Metaphysics of Monozygotic Twinning;The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine;2024-05-28
2. Unintended Intrauterine Death and Preterm Delivery: What Does Philosophy Have to Offer?;The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine;2023-05-16