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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank
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To: TimF who wrote (81210)6/30/2009 2:56:48 PM
From: Solon  Read Replies (1) of 82486
 
Now you are starting to discuss different kinds of potential (presumably given the nature of your interest) to imply that a strong potential is the holder of "rights". This is just silly. A fertilized egg is only a minor step closer to becoming a human person than an egg is. Surely, a woman produces an egg each month and if she chooses not to have sex then the potential of that egg will remain unfulfilled. Or if she takes a pill to prevent contraception. But a fertilized egg can no more hold a "right" than a fried egg. Potentially, all eggs are stardust...but we don't grade eggs by possible futures. Whether you throw away the ingredients before mixing or after mixing you are just as surely preventing a possibility...and infinite possibilities thereafter.

So we can ask the question: What is the difference between the egg and the flour before mixing and after? Well, clearly the mixed batter is a step closer to a cake than the egg and the flour unmixed. But is this meaningful? Well, not from any argument that I have ever heard. Batter is still batter. It is not a cake.

Now the difference between a blastocyst and a human person is still infinitely greater than the difference between batter and cake. An egg has the same "existence" as a nail or a cup. It is present in the universe. That is all. That is the only form of existence it has. It has no existence of the mind. It has no mind. It has no desires, no goals, and no values--and therefore has nothing to be protected. It is infinitely less alive and aware than every other creature on the planet that has even the most rudimentary nervous system.

Saying that it has "potential" may be accurate but it has nothing to do with possessing rights. It doesn't even have the right to have a right...no more than a speck of dust has a right to have a right

Does this mean it cannot be held as a value by potential parents? Of course not. Any one person or any number of people CAN decide to value it for what it has the potential to become. That is fine. We love our human family. But only the mother has the right to determine if she will (firstly) mix this batter and (secondly), if she will bake it. She is not compelled to mix batter or bake cakes--not for you, not for me--and not for the egg or the flour.
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