Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83 based; site houxz.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!houxm!houxz!wh From: wh@houxz.UUCP (W.HEINMILLER) Newsgroups: net.abortion Subject: Society Needs a Definition of "Human" Message-ID: <697@houxz.UUCP> Date: Mon, 12-Mar-84 13:31:24 EST Article-I.D.: houxz.697 Posted: Mon Mar 12 13:31:24 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 13-Mar-84 08:48:57 EST Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ Lines: 35 [] Some of Paul Dubuc's comments point out the biggest issue of the abortion debate. It isn't simply the issue of when does a fetus become human, its the issue of what is "human" versus "not human". Not only is this a problem for the abortion debate, but euthanasia, whaling and several other current social debates. > Again, you avoid the contention that the embryo is a human individual by > saying that is has only the "potential" of becoming human. There is nothing > that is added to the embryo (except food and oxygen -- don't we all need it?) > to make it more human as time goes on. It just takes care of itself. A > tapeworm will never be a human. What is the definition of "human" such that we know a tapeworm can never achieve it? Is it physical configuration (head, arms, etc.)? Then what about birth defects or handicaps? Is it a mental capability? Then again what about brain damaged individuals, or monkeys and whales? And how do we know that a tapeworm might not turn into a human? While such a possibility is generally considered impossible in the scientific world, it could be considered possible if you reject basic science as some religious groups do. What then is "human", and what is the test that determines whether something is or is not "human"? > (Yes I will keep calling the fetus, zygote, embryo, whatever a human > being until it is proved otherwise.) How about calling a deer, whale, grass, cornstalk, etc. human beings until its proved otherwise? What is the test that determines "human"? "Is mowing your lawn murder?" Wayne Heinmiller Bell Communications Research houxz!wh Freehold, NJ