Inresponse to Deborah Briihl, who was reponding to something I wrote,
Louis Schmeir asked the following questions:
> ...let me [play] the devil's advocate and get into
> dangerous waters. Is a zygote a human being? Doesn't the answer
depend
> on a definition of human being? Do you think the answers are outside
the
> realm of science and evidentiary method?
If Deborah doesn't mind, I would like to try my hand at these questions.
They are the sorts of question a student might ask, so it gives me an
opportunity to work out a response. Louis, the more general question you
seem to be asking is this: "where do we get the meanings for our words?"
And, I think you are being even more specific than this. I think that
you really are asking: "where do we get the meanings for certain words
that have particularly important implications for us in our everyday
lives--words that have implications impacting our survival,
reproduction, or just plain self-respect as well as our respect for
others." The short answer is that we get these meanings from our
culture. Culture includes science, religion, politics, advertisements,
and other such cultural institutions and their artifacts. But this short
answer is not very satisfying to me, so let me expand upon it.
We humans are meaning-seeking creatures, and the words we use are the
most obvious expressions of the meaning we give to a situation. But
there is a great deal of complexity in doing this--a complexity that
makes it difficult to answer your questions simply. One problem is that
different words with different meanings can refer to the same object in
different contexts. Let me give an example. Just this morning, my
daughter asked us, "where is the waffle-maker?" She was referring to the
toaster--an object that also can be used to heat frozen waffles. In
another context, one in which she wanted to make toast, she would have
used the word, "toaster." These two words referred to the same object,
but they had different meanings and, therefore implications. This
example points to an idea essential for answering your questions: THE
WORDS WE USE AND THE MEANINGS WE INTEND DEPEND UPON THE CONTEXT (that
is, the meaning we assign to the situation). The context is associated
with the purposes (goals) that we have in mind for a particular
situation.
There is another problem--one even more important with regard to your
questions: the same word has different meanings (and, therefore,
implications) in different contexts. With regard to your particular
question, the term "human being" has different meanings and implications
depending upon the purpose we have for using the word. For example, If
we are trying to determine if a zygote is a human being or a chimpanzee,
we will mean something different by the term than if we are trying to
determine if it is acceptable to abort the zygote developing within a
human mother because of medical problems that threaten the mother's
life. In the former case, a human being might be defined as an organism
with 46 chromosomes of certain sizes and banding patterns whereas a
chimpanzee might be defined as an organism with 48 chromosomes of
certain sizes and banding patterns. In the latter case, a human being
might be defined as an organism that has all the basic bodily parts
distinguishing humans from other creatures and that is able to survive
on its own outside of the mother's body.
The point I am trying to make is that there is no "essence" we can point
to when trying to define the term "human being." We use the term in
different ways depending upon what we are trying to do. The same is true
with a term such as "life." The word will mean different things
depending upon what purpose you are trying to accomplish. The best
discussion of this I have seen was by Medawar and Medawar, 1983; quoted
in Stanovich, 1998, p. 39):
"A hunger for definitions is very often a manifestation of a deep-seated
belief...that all words have an inner meaning.... Indeed, amateurs will
sometimes put a question about definition in a form which reveals their
enslavement to this illusion: 'What is the true meaning of the word
"life"?' they ask. There is no true meaning. There is a usage that
serves the purposes of working biologists well enough, and it is not the
subject of altercation or dispute."
Change the purposes and the meaning will have to change. We are
meaning-seeking creatures, but the meanings we give to words are
designed to help us adjust ourselves better to the present situation.
The context--the way that we see the situation and the purposes we then
try to address in that situation--are determined by our cultural
backgrounds. For many people, science is a part of this cultural
background, just as much as is religion, politics, or any other cultural
institution or artifact.
So to answer your question: a zygote is a human being; but what we mean
by the term "human being" will differ in different contexts.
Furthermore, for certain (especially medical) purposes, we might decide
that a zygote is NOT a human being. A natural-science approach might
inform some of these meanings and their implications for action, whereas
a religious approach, a political approach, a consumer approach, etc.
might lead to different meanings and implications. The meaning we assign
ultimately is the result of which aspects of a culture is dominant for
an individual.
But, so that you are not confused by my words, when our purpose is to
achieve an understanding of the workings of the universe so that we can
predict future events and control them, nothing comes close to a
natural-science approach. Thus, for those purposes, the meanings used by
scientists are preferred to any other.
Jeff
References:
Medawar, P. B. & Medawar, J. S. (1983) _Aristotle to zoos: A
philosophical dictionary of biology_. Canbridge: Harvard University
Press.
Stanovich, K. E. (1998). _How to think straight about psychology_ (5th
ed). New York: Longman.
--
Jeffry P. Ricker, Ph.D. Office Phone: (480) 423-6213
9000 E. Chaparral Rd. FAX Number: (480) 423-6298
Psychology Department [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Scottsdale Community College
Scottsdale, AZ 85256-2626
"The truth is rare and never simple."
Oscar Wilde
"No one can accept the fundamental hypotheses of scientific psychology
and be in the least mystical."
Knight Dunlap
