I've been encountering a lot of people lately who deny the biological humanity of the unborn. Here's a pro-choice philosopher who understands human biology:
"Perhaps the most straightforward relation between you and me on the one hand and every human fetus on the other is this: All are living members of the same species, homo sapiens. A human fetus after all is simply a human being at a very early stage in his or her development."
--David Boonin, A Defense of Abortion, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003, p. 20.
deny the biological humanity of the unborn....
ReplyDeleteI've known lots of laypeople who do. Are there any philosophers? I don't know any. In my reading they all accept that we're biologically human as prenates- just not persons.
To my knowledge, there are no philosophers who deny the biological humanity of the unborn. The only ones who do are lay pro-choice people who are ideology-driven and probably haven't given too much thought to their pro-choice views. And you're right, the debate is not about whether or not the unborn are human beings (that's ben settled by science), the debate is philosophical -- are the unborn human in a "morally relevant" sense, i.e. are they persons?
DeletePS: I just tweeted you about conversation I'm having as DS110 ( @JulienOffray ) - BTW are you on FB?
ReplyDeleteI am actually on Facebook. I don't have a separate group for my pro-life work, though I've been thinking of starting one. My personal Facebook page (where I have discussions about a number of different topics) is www.facebook.com/petraphonic
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