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In Your Opinion, When Does Life Begin and What Are the Ethical Implications of Your Position?

In: Philosophy and Psychology

Submitted By Sumlik
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In your opinion, when does life begin and what are the ethical implications of your position?

While some suggest that life is a continuum as gametes link generations, it is the society’s general view that life begins at a distinct time point. To many, life begins at the time when we are born in the hospital as a baby. At that particular moment, an individual is officially declared as “born” and thus be granted an identify in the society. Seemingly, life of an individual begins at birth. However, debates on when life begins have been on-going throughout human history due to its significant ethical, biomedical and philosophical consequences.

Despite the many factors we need to consider when thinking about when life begins, Dr. Ricki Lewis, a science writer with a PhD in genetics, managed to narrow down the options to 17 time points, based primarily on biomedical factors. Amongst these time points, I believe life begins at week 22 of pregnancy. In this essay, I will support my stance by comparing it to some other major arguments. The ethical implications of my stance will also be illustrated and discussed.

Life begins only when an organism has the ability to survive. When we discuss when life begins, it is important to define what life is. There are three definitions of life, said Dr. Chris McKay on his article. Life can be referred to a collective understanding of a system of material entitles that can undergo evolution (i.e. when we are asking if there is any life on a planet). Life can also refer to the ability of an organism to develop and grow (i.e. is something alive). However, the definition of life that is most applicable to the discussion we are having is the last case where life refers to the history of activities that an organism or individual undertake. Those activities do not refer to biological activities but physical and voluntary

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