[Vision2020] Quick Response to Tony

[nickgier at adelphia.net]

Hi Tony,

Three posts and I'm out for the day.  Promise.

I just want to make one correction to that post.  The Catholic philosopher I quoted was Jacques Maritain.  He was speaking as a philosopher not a theologian, so his comments are legitimate for debate in a secular society.  He was making no reference to Revelation in that statement.

Tony, I already refuted your DNA argument in a previous post.  Didn't you read it?  There is a possibility of twinning up to 16 days, so genetic identity cannot be the same as personal identity.  Your argument would lead to the absurd conclusion that twins are the same legal person because they have identical DNA.  The technology of cloning also makes it possible to, as least in the future, make thousands of new persons from every single one of my cells.  Millions of possible persons but the same DNA.

So it is true that there are human beings who are not persons and persons who are not human beings.  Since no one took me up on the Personhood Puzzle, here are the answers. If you believe in God, there is a good example of the latter, as well as ETs, and chimp, ape, whale, and dolphin persons.  Examples of the former are fetuses until 25 weeks and brain dead humans who are no longer persons.

Thanks for the debate, but please read everything next time, including my argument against the potentiality principle at the end of my abortion article.

Nick