Individuality and Human Beginnings: A Reply to David DeGrazia

DeGrazia D. , “Moral Status, Human Identity, and Early Embryos: A Critique of the President's Approach,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 34, no. 1 (2006): 49–57.

Wiggins D. , Sameness and Substance (Oxford: Blackwell, 1980): 7–8.

See DeGrazia , supra note 1, at 50.

This is a linguistic usage that has been widely disseminated since the publication of Warren M. A. , “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion,” The Monist 57 (1973): 43–61.

For the traditional conception of a person, what matters is the specific nature of a substance, not whether the powers contained in it are currently exercisable or not. See Ricken F. , “‘Mensch’ und ‘Person,’” in Hilpert K. Mieth D. , eds., Kriterien Biomedizinischer Ethik (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder Verlag, 2006): At 66, who quotes Boethius' definition: “persona est naturae rationabilis individual substantia,” (a person is an individual substance of a rational nature).

See DeGrazia , supra note 1, at 51.

Id., at 52.

Every individual satisfies Leibniz' Law of Indiscernibility of Identicals. See Wiggins , supra note 2, at 18–23.

These are all terms used by DeGrazia to mark the contrast with an individual. To the list, we may add the Aristotelian term “heap” (sorós).

See DeGrazia , supra note 1, at 51. He also mentions the possibility of two embryos fusing to form a chimera as a complementary indication of lack of individuation. For the sake of simplicity, I restrict myself to the more common appeal to the possibility of twinning. I am prepared to argue that mutatis mutandis, the possibility of fusion, can be analyzed as the mirror image of the possibility of fission.

Cf. Aquinas , Super Sent, 3.6, q. 1a. 1qc. 1cd: et sic est individuum inquantum est indivisum in se, singulare vero inquantum est divisum ab aliis.

See DeGrazia , supra note 1, at 52. It is true that initially there is space between the blastomeres and that about the third day a process of compaction starts to take place, but this should not be interpreted as initial lack of unified functioning. Quite the contrary. Compaction follows a genetically pre-ordained pattern that fits what is required for the next steps, among them the stabilization of the over-all size of the morula for it to be able to travel down the oviduct. See Cummings M. R. , Human Heredity: Principles and Issues, 7th ed. (Belmont CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole, 2006): At 158–159; Gilbert S. F. , Developmental Biology, 8th ed. (Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc. Publishers, 2006): at 349.

See DeGrazia , supra note 1, at 52.

See Gilbert , supra note 13, at 356: “identical twins occur in roughly 0.25% of human births.”18. Id., at 348–349.

See DeGrazia , supra note 1, at 52.

Pearson H. , “Your Destiny from Day One,” Nature 418 (July 4, 2002): 14–15, available at <http://www.nature.com/nsu/nsu_pf/020701/020701–12.html> (last visited July 4, 2002). This article summarizes the results of several research projects dealing with early embryonic life.

See Gilbert , supra note 13, at 58–59.

For the notion of reprogramming see Jaenisch R. , “The Biology of Nuclear Cloning and the Potential of Embryonic Stem Cells for Transplantation Therapy,” Monitoring Stem Cell Research: A Report of The President's Council on Bioethics (Washington D.C.: The President's Council on Bioethics, 2004): at 413.

See DeGrazia , supra note 1, at 51.

The budding model of twinning suggests that the original embryo continues to exist and that a new one begins to exist alongside the original one at a later point in time.

See DeGrazia , supra note 1, at 51.

Id., at 53.

A sensible objection to PGD is that it is conducive to negative eugenics: The weak and prone to illness are intentionally destroyed while the strong and fit are favored.

See DeGrazia , supra note 1, at 53.

Even if the whole donor cell is inserted and not just its nucleus, it ceases to exist when it is absorbed into the new cell. See Gilbert , supra note 13, at 83.

See DeGrazia , supra note 1, at 53.

Whether we have a moral obligation to do something about it, is an independent question.

See DeGrazia , supra note 1, at 53.