I am afraid, Shri Averthanus D’Souza gets a zero on the latest answers he has submitted to Goanet. All seven of his answers are wrong. It appears that he has simply made up his answers without acquiring real knowledge from reading or listening to knowledgeable teachers. Here are my corrections of his wrong answers, and suggestions for future improvement:
1. Human beings are primates according to basic biology. Please read an 8th standard biology textbook to find out this basic scientific fact. 2. Primate is the name of an order, not species. Shri D’Souza may deny all he wants, but he is a primate who belongs to a family called hominidae along with 6 other great apes. His DNA is more than 98% similar to that of a chimpanzee. 3. The mistake here is forgetting the original logical point. Lack of attention to logic is a common accompaniment of anti-intellectualism and intellectual laziness. The human primate in question agrees with his fellow human primate that all human primates are morally responsible for their professional actions. So by the logic of his previous post this must mean that he believes in the reductio ad absurdum that all professional fields are responsible for defining murder, as he previously claimed with regard to the medical field. Let us see if he is perceptive and self-critical enough to understand his logical fallacy. 4. Judaism permits medical abortions for physical and mental health reasons of the mother. It also believes that only a newborn is a full human being. I say, please read the declarations of respected rabbis, instead of fabricating your own material from whole cloth. Please read what other religious leaders say before submitting any more wrong answers to Goanet. Here, start with this appeal by 1100 leaders of 40 different world religions: http://www.religiousinstitute.org/sites/default/files/open_letters/abortionopenletter.pdf Here is a pertinent quote: QUOTE Religious traditions have different beliefs on the value of fetal life, often according greater value as fetal development progresses. Science, medicine, law, and philosophy contribute to this understanding. However, we uphold the teaching of many religious traditions: the health and life of the woman must take precedence over the life of the fetus. The sanctity of human life is best upheld when we assure that it is not created carelessly. UNQUOTE ....Statement of 1100 leaders of 40 different religions 5. The relationship between person and personhood is the same as between mother and motherhood. It is a simple grammatical derivation that is permitted in the English language. I believe this is taught in the 1st or 2nd standard of an English medium school. Please read my prior posts carefully to allow the distinction between "human person" and "person" to sink into the mind. 6. The search for extraterrestrial life and intelligence is a legitimate scientific research project that relies on objective physical evidence, not blind faith, fantasy or received wisdom. The scientific fields that deal with this research are called Astrobiology and Exobiology. Please educate yourself at the following websites of two world famous scientific institutions, NASA and SETI Institute: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ http://www.seti.org/seti 7. In the quest for understanding the natural universe, philosophy and religion have become obsolete. But they still have the entire supernatural and superstitious field to themselves. Please note that scientists like me only talk about natural phenomena, and leave the supernatural and superstitious phenomena to religious folk, philosophical speculators and paranormal psychics. But it is good to see Shri D’Souza once again admit implicitly that his beliefs are supported solely by his religion, rather than science. I always respect an intellectually honest individual. So, for his own sake, I hope he does not go back to denying his religious motives again. Cheers, Santosh --- On Mon, 1/25/10, Averthanus <[email protected]> wrote: > > 1. The plural "we", > "our" and "us" refers to the vast majority of > common folk who belong to the "human" race, who are not > primates. The use > of the plural is perfectly normal and does not imply any > sinister > constituency which the hyperactive id of the good doctor > drives him to > deduce. > 2. Dr. Heleker is very welcome to identify > himself as a primate; that is > his prerogative. However, "we" should be allowed to > describe ourselves as > "humans" to which species, as distinct from the primates, > we belong. Humans > are as different from the primates as cheese is from > chalk.
