> I guess I assumed too much by figuring no one was considering
> giving rights to any other species than ours. So, to amend my
> criteria, I need to give it the heading "For Homo sapiens". But
> I'm guessing that doesn't fix the problem either. Why not?
> (Looking for that damned screwdriver again.)
I see one problem right there: Who's talking about "giving" rights to
anyone or anything? We'd have to go way off another tangent to thrash
that out; my assumption was that all parties in this discussion agreed
that rights aren't "given," but rather that they exist and that the
questions are a) who possesses them, b) when do they come into
existence, and therefore c) when do we _recognize_ them?
Your argument as it boils down now seems to be that:
1) The entity is homo sapiens sapiens; and
2) That it has exited the womb and started doing the things that all
mammals do when they exit the womb.
While I've tacitly agreed to (1), at least until we run into
intelligent aliens or something, I don't see the relevance of (2). The
characteristics listed are not uniquely human characteristics, nor do
they indicate sentience/sapience, nor is there any clear reason to
believe that they are the basis for a presumption of personhood or
rights. If you believe they are, please feel free to prove your case
... but be advised that I'm not sure I belong in this argument any
more. I wanted to establish a very _narrow_ point (that a human being
is a human being, regardless of whether or not it is a "person").
At the point where we are now, it's difficult to tell if you're
claiming parturition as the point of "human beingness" (a biologically
unsustainable claim) or as the point of "personhood" (a claim I have
yet to see convincing evidence for, but an arguable one). If the
former, I may still have a role in the discussion. If the latter, I'm
happy to get back to lurk status on it and hopefully learn something.
Regards,
Tom Knapp
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