[ExI] The imams and advanced bioscience in Iran

[Stathis Papaioannou]

2008/8/12 Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com>:

>> A sensible definition of the beginning of human life is that it takes
>> place sometime during the foetus's development. For many, both religious and
>> non-religious, this is defined as when consciousness switches on.
>
> Rubbish. He doesn't seem to mind at all that the Iranians (see
> below) pick 120 days. The Japanese use to pick three months,
> if I recall correctly. Up until then, the Japs were legally able
> to kill their newborns. I'll bet the author would be very uncomfortable with
> the logical extension of his belief here.

Peter Singer follows his arguments where they logically lead and
concludes that infanticide isn't as bad as we generally think it is.
For this intellectual honesty he has sometimes been vilified. It's a
difficult problem: I want to be rational and consistent, support
abortion, but I don't want to kill babies!




-- 
Stathis Papaioannou