Phil 2 - exam 3 Flashcards
Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has been available since 1990 in conjunction with IVF.
One cell (blastomere) is removed from a cleaving embryo ex utero and tested for a particular genetic or chromosomal abnormality.
A surrogate (my gate is your gate)
provides her own oocytes, fertilized with sperm from the man in another couple to whom she relinquishes the child upon delivery.
Marquis - the assumption about abortion (the assumption about a sort of being)
The moral permissibility of abortion
“stands or falls on whether or not a
fetus is the sort of being whose life it is
seriously wrong to end.”
Marquis- problem with anti-abortion (anti-abortion is cancer)
“[The] principle “It is always prima facie
wrong to take a human life” seems to
entail that it is wrong to end the existence
of a living human cancer-cell culture, one
the ground that the culture is both living
and human. Therefore, it seems that the
anti-abortionist’s favored principle is too
broad.”
Marquis- problem with pro-abortion (pro infants?)
The problem with narrow principles is that
they do not embrace enough…the
needed principles such as “It is prima facie
wrong to kill only persons”
or
“It is prima
facie wrong to kill only rational agents” do
not explain why it is wrong to kill infants or
young children….
Marquis - merely believe
“[If] we merely believe, but do not understand, why killing adult human beings such as ourselves is wrong, how could we conceivably show that abortion is either immoral or permissible?
Marquis - why is it wrong to kill?
“What primarily makes killing wrong is neither its effect on the murderer nor its effect on the victim’s friends and relatives, but its effect on the victim. The loss of one’s life is one of the
greatest losses one can suffer. The loss of
one’s life deprives one of all the experiences,
ac-vi-es, projects, and enjoyments that would
otherwise have constituted one’s future.”
Marquis - why is wrong to kill con’t
“Some parts of my future are not valued by me now, but will come to be valued by me as I grow older and as my values and capacities change…when I die, I am deprived of all of the value of my future…what makes killing any adult human being prima facie seriously wrong is the loss of his or her future.”
Marquis - obvious consequences (obviously identical)
The future of a standard fetus includes a set of
experiences, projects, activities, and such which
are identical with the futures of adult human
beings and are identical with the futures of
young children. Since the reason that is
sufficient to explain why it is wrong to kill
human beings after the time of birth is a reason
that also applies to fetuses, it follows that
abortion is prima facie seriously morally
wrong
Marquis - contraception
“[The] immorality of contraception is
not entailed by the loss of a future-like ours argument simply because there is
no nonarbitrary identifiable subject of
the loss in the case of contraception.
Marquis - self-evident
[Based on] the assumption that the
permissibility of abortion stands or falls on the
moral status of the fetus. Since a fetus
possesses a property, the possession of which
in adult human beings is sufficient to make
killing…wrong, abortion is wrong…this
[argument] seems superior [to other
arguments]…because it rests on an ethics of
killing which is close to self-evident. …because the crucial morally relevant
property clearly applies to fetuses, and
because the argument avoids the usual
equivocations on ‘human life,’ ‘human
being,’ or person.
’”
Warren - the moral community
The question which we must answer in
order to produce a satisfactory solution to
the problem of abortion is this: How are we
to define the moral community, the set of
beings with full and equal moral rights, such
that we can decide whether a human fetus
is a member of the community or not?
Warren - human has 2 meanings (moral and genetic - just her argument)
Traditional Pro-Life Argument:
P1. It is wrong to kill innocent human beings.
P2. Fetuses are innocent human beings.
C. Thus, it is wrong to kill fetuses.
Warren thinks the term “Human” is being used equivocally in P1 and P2. In P1 it is used in the moral sense, and in P2 it is used in the genetic sense. Thus, the conclusion does not follow.
Warren - criteria for personhood (CCRAM)
- Consciousness: conscious of objects and
events…capacity to feel pain. - Reasoning: the developed capacity to solve new and relatively complex problems.
- Self-motivated activity: activity which is relatively independent of either gene6c or direct external control.
- Capacity to communicate messages of an
indefinite variety of types. - Self-Awareness
Warren - right to life
“It does seem reasonable to suggest that
the more like a person, in the relevant
respects, a being is, the stronger is the
case for regarding it as having a right to life, and indeed the stronger its right to life is.”
Warren - right to life con’t
“[It] is clear that even though a seven- or eight month fetus has features which make it apt to
arouse in us almost the same powerful protective instinct as is commonly aroused by a small infant, nevertheless it is not significantly more personlike
than is a very small embryo…Thus, in the relevant respects, a fetus, even a fully developed one, is considerably less personlike than is the average mature mammal, indeed the average fish.
Warren - potential persons rights
But even if a potential person does have
some prima facie right to life, such a right could not possibly outweigh the right of a woman to obtain an abortion, since the rights of any actual person invariably
outweigh those of any potential person,
whenever the two conflict.
Warren - conclusion
“Thus, neither a fetus’s resemblance to a
person, nor its potential for becoming a
person provides any basis whatever for the
claim that it has any significant right to life.
Warren - to show that a fetus is not a person, it must possess
none of the characteristics of personhood
Warren claims that if the violinist analogy is accurate, abortion is
a deeply tragic act
According to Warren, infanticide is:
a. virtually never justified in our society.
b. sometimes justified in extreme circumstances.
c. morally different than a late-term abortion.
Thomson’s 2 arguments
1) She argues that abortion is generally
permissible, not that it is always
permissible.
2) She argues that, although it is permissible
to detach one’s body from the fetus
through abortion, it is not permissible to
guarantee the death of a baby once it is
born (i.e., infanticide).
Thomson - right to life
“[The] right to life consists not in the right
not to be killed, but rather in the right not to be killed unjustly.”
Thus, the “unborn person” may have “a right
to its mother’s body only if her pregnancy
resulted from a voluntary act, undertaken in
full knowledge of the chance a pregnancy
might result from it.”
Thomson - right to secure death
[While] I am arguing for the permissibility
of abortion in cases, I am not arguing for
the right to secure the death of the unborn
child…I have argued that you are not
morally required to spend nine months in
bed, sustaining the life of that violinist; but
to say this is by no means to say that if,
when you unplug yourself, there is a
miracle and he survives, you then have a
right to turn around and slit his throat.
Thomson - right to secure death con’t
“You may detach yourself even if this costs him his life; you have no right to be guaranteed his death, by some other means, if unplugging yourself does not kill him. There are some people who will feel dissatisfied by this feature of my argument.”
Thomson - negative and positive rights
Negative rights outweigh positive rights
because the right not to be burdened or
harmed has more moral weight than the
right to be benefited.
The pregnant woman has a negative right not
to be burdened or to take on risk.
The fetus’ positive rights violate the woman’s
negative right.
Thomson key points
The “famous violinist” has no right, in many
cases, to the woman’s body.
• Unborn persons whose existence is due to
rape have no right to the use of their
mothers’ bodies.
• The woman does not automatically have a
special relationship to the fetus.
Beckwith - 3 categories of issues with violinist
- Ethical (4)
- Legal (2)
- Ideological (3)
Beckwith - ethical issues #1 (obligation towards the weak)
Thomson assumes volunteerism.
Beckwith argues that there are special
obligations between parents and the child
that resulted from the parents’ act of
sexual intercourse. And that this obligation
is “necessary in any civilized culture in
order to preserve the rights of the
vulnerable, the weak, the young
Beckwith - ethical issue #2 (family is everything)
Thomson’s argument is fatal to family
morality.
“[Volunteerism] is fatal to family morality,
which has as one of its central beliefs that
an individual has special and filial
obligations to his [or her] offspring and
family that he [or she] does not have to
other persons
Beckwith - ethical issue #3 (naturally dependent on mother)
A case can be made that the unborn does
have a prima facie right to her mother’s body.
- the unborn is naturally dependent to her
mother (unlike the violinist)
- natural development occurs in the womb
- the same entity when born has a natural claim upon her parents
Beckwith - ethical issue #4 (killing)
Thomson ignores the fact that abortion is
indeed killing and not merely the withholding
of treatment.
“[There] is no doubt that such ‘withholding’
of treatment (and it seems totally false to call ordinary shelter and sustenance ‘treatment’)
is indeed murder
Beckwith - legal problems (legally understand the other)
Thomson’s argument ignores tort law.
From a real case:
“The obligation arises when one
‘understands and appreciates’ the condition
of the other.”
Judge Noonan and Beckwith thinks that this
applies to the mother and her unborn.
Beckwith legal problem (family law)
Thomson’s argument ignores family law.
“Thomson’s argument is inconsistent with
the body of well-established family law,
which presupposes parental responsibility of
a child’s welfare.”
Beckwith - ideological problem (idea of preg is wrong)
Inconsistent use of the burden of
pregnancy. “Thomson has to paint pregnancy in the
most horrific of terms in order to make her argument seem plausible…[Dr.]
Nathanson points out that ‘pregnancy is not a ‘sickness’. Few pregnant women are bedridden and many, emotionally and physically, have never felt better.
Beckwith - ideological problem (state mandates)
The libertarian principles underlying
Thomson’s case are inconsistent with the
state-mandated agenda of radical
feminism.
“[Feminists] who advocate state-mandated
quotas, state-mandated comparable worth
pay scales…will go on to advocate abortion
on the basis of an absolute libertarianism as
odds with every one of those policies.”
Beckwith - ideological problem - macho
Thomson’s argument implies a macho
view of bodily control, a view inconsistent with true feminism.
“[Abortion] involves violence against a
small, weak and dependent child. It is
macho control, the very kind the feminist
movement most eloquently opposes in
other contexts.”
Moral status
Moral status is a property that gives individuals a claim on others, who in turn have an obligation to treat these individuals as part of the moral community.
Personhood (the person is moral)
The concept of personhood is usually
attributed to human beings that have
moral status. Moral status is the condition
by which human beings are considered for
direct moral concern by other persons
personhood con’t (inherent or gained?)
Some argue that personhood is a status that some beings have by the very nature of being a human being, while others argue that personhood is an attribute that is gained through a process or the actualization of par(cular attributes or capaci(es.
Moral status of embryos - Glannon
Glannon assesses that because embryos lack identity-preserving potential and moral status, it would not be wrong to prevent their development into fetuses and persons
Glannon - moral status of embryos con’t (extrinsic is what matters)
He argues that “the moral value of an embryo is not an intrinsic property of the embryo, but an extrinsic property falling under the procreative autonomy of its
genetic parents.” Thus as an expression of autonomy, according to Glannon, parents may consent to allow their embryos to be used for therapeutic research.
Moral status of embryo - critics of Glannon
Some critics of Glannon, for example,
Beckwith, would disagree with his premise
attributed to opponents of abortion with
respect to the embryo. Glannon states,
“[Pro-Life advocates] argue that embryos
have the potential to become persons and
that this potential gives a moral status to
embryos….” Beckwith argues the other way
around, that human embryos are persons
with potential and not potential persons.
conservative argument - embryo (just that personhood begins at conception)
- If personhood begins at conception, then
harvesting stem cells that result in the death of the embryo is the intentional killing of an innocent person. - Personhood begins at conception.
- Therefore, harvesting stem cells that result in the death of the embryo is the intentional killing of an innocent person
Moesteller Teleology
“If teleology (purpose) is present in biological
organisms, and if the distinction of ways
that an organism can actually have a
property in the mode of potentiality or in
the mode of actuality is logically coherent,
then it remains to consider whether these
two things are related. In fact, they are
related.
Moesteller Teleology con’t
The ontological distinction of modes of
having a property is dependent on the
existence of teleology in nature.
Necessarily a being which has a property in the mode of actuality had that property
ontologically prior to it in the mode of
potentiality. The two are inseparable.
The existence of natural biological teleology
in human organisms implies the reality of the distinction.If this is right, then necessarily any property that is specified as the determinate mark of personhood will be had in the mode of potentiality logically prior to the mode of actuality by the human organism capable of having that property in the mode of actuality.
This is guaranteed by uninterrupted natural
biological teleology. Thus, any property
specified as a criterion for personhood is
actually had by the human organism at all
stages of its teleological development.
Moesteller teleology final
This would indicate a strong reason to think
that personhood is continually had by all
organisms capable of teleological
development that ends in (without
interruption the exhibition of any criterion of
personhood. If this is right, then all post conception embryos, including frozen
embryos are persons.”
Procreative Autonomy According to Glannon (just do it, or not)
it consists in two equally significant rights:
1) The right to procreate
2) The right to avoid procreation
And when these two conflict, the right to
avoid procreation supersedes the right to
procreate. (see Negative Right)
Surrogate pregnancy
A form of assisted reproductive technology
that makes use of third party donations.
Reasons why a woman or a man or a
couple seek a surrogate include infertility
or a potentially high-risk pregnancy
types of surrogacy (CAT G)
- Traditional Surrogacy (artificial insemination)
- Gestational Surrogacy (IVF) (carrier)
- Commercial Surrogacy (payment)
- Altruistic (Rescue) Surrogacy
Glannon on surrogacy
“Unless it can be shown that a woman’s decision to be a surrogate is not informed or not voluntary, there is no good reason to think that surrogate pregnancy is clearly exploitative of women. On the contrary, it may be taken as one expression of a woman’s freedom to do what she wants with her own body?”
sex selection
Sperm sorting, PIGD, amniocentesis, and ultrasound can all reveal the sex of the developing embryo or fetus. - It is one thing to know that a future child will be male or female. - It is quite another to abort a fetus or terminate an embryo on the basis of this knowledge.
sex selection - girls
According to Glannon, recent studies show
that in 92 percent of cases where couples
already had a girl, pregnancies were
aborted when prenatal ultrasound
revealed that the next child would also be
a girl.
glannon - sex selection is permissible…
1) For medical reasons in order to prevent
harm to a child who would be born with a
severe disease.
2) If families are autonomous units, and if
parents believe that having a child of a
particular sex will promote the child’s welfare,
then selecting a male over a female child is
morally permissible.
cloning (just clone the nucleus)
Reproductive Cloning vs. Therapeutic
Cloning
Cloning involves inserting the nucleus of
an adult human somatic cell into a human
egg whose nucleus has been removed
(somatic-cell nuclear transfer). Somatic
cells are distinguished from germ cells of
the sperm or egg
therapeutic cloning
It has the potential to rejuvenate tissues or even replace organs damaged from diseases such as Parkinson’s, diabetes, and heart disease. Here an embryo is cloned and the stem-cell lines are extracted.
stem cell research - can be taken from…(just 2)
blastocysts created via IVF, explicitly
for the sake of harvesting stem cells.
Blastocyst might also be created through SCNT (“cloning”), in order to yield ESCs (embryonic stem cell) with patient's own genetic code..
stem cell basics - distinctive properties (stem cells have prell - PRL)
Self-replication
Lack of specialization
Potency
self-replication of stem cell line: involves 2 mechanisms (obliged to spastic self-replicate)
Obligatory asymmetric replication and Stochastic differentation
Obligatory asymmetric replication (obligated to not be like mother)
stem cell divides into i) one daughter cell of a
differentiated, specialized type, and ii) one
daughter stem cell identical to the mother
cell;
Stochastic differentation (chastic different sisters)
one stem cell divides into two differentiated daughter
cells; simultaneously, a second stem cell
divides into two stem cell daughters,
identical to itself.
stem cell types (tote my pluri uni)
totipotent, pluripotent = a) multipotent, b) adult stem cells, and unipotent.
Applications of stem cell biotechnologies
Regenerative (reparative) medicine: tissue
replacement and cell-based therapies for
organ repair (potentially, organ
replacement);
Pharmaceutical development and testing;
Research applications in embryology and cell biology
adult v. embryonic (what type of potent)
Embryonic stem cells, isolated from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst, are pluripotent. 2. Stem cells taken from different adult body-sites are only multipotent.
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC): (inducing an adult)
Adult (multipotent) stem cells that are
induced to become pluripotent, through
genomic alterations that allow for wider
specialization/differentation of daughter
cells.
– Mouse iPSC’s first reported in 2006;
human iPSCs first reported in 2007
Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT), aka
Cloning (cloning scent)
Technique may be used for research
purposes or reproductive purposes, each
raising separate sets of moral and ethical
issues; Cloning for research: controversial because blastocysts are created explicitly for
research in which they will be destroyed
ESC research
Opponents of ESC research typically hold that:
– The blastocyst or embryo is a person morally equivalent to an adult human being, is “one of
us
” (2002 President’s Commission);
– Its status as a morally-equivalent person begins at fertilization of the egg;
– Thus, destruction of the embryo for ESC research is unjustiied killing of an innocent human being; – And any benefits of ESC research come at too high
a price.
ESC research - opponents
Opponents of cloning-for-research typically hold that, in addition:
– A further degree of wrongdoing is achieved when an embryo is created specifically in order to be destroyed in research;
– Cloning, even “just for research,” marks the beginning of asexual reproduction and a leap forward in manipulation of human life;
ESC opponents - con’t
Opponents…in addi(on:
– Cloning for research purposes amounts to “complete instrumentalization of nascent human life” since it allows creation of a life for the
purpose of its destruction;
– Thus opening up way to ever more radical experiments, on later-stage embryos, fetuses; organ development in later-stage fetuses; reproductive cloning, etc. etc.
ESC proponents
Proponents of ESC Research typically argue against the claim that the early embryo has moral status comparable to a grown human person; see Steinbock’s criticism of the embryo as an end in itself;
• Some proponents insist that embryos deserve more limited respect, as “potent symbols of human life”
Glannon on cloning
Concerns about cloning violating human
dignity are misguided because they focus too much on the biological means through which we come into existence. We possess dignity because we are persons with autonomous desires, beliefs, and intentions that are not entirely functions of our biology. To be sure, biology has a necessary role in our…
glannon on cloning con’t
[Mental] life insofar as our bodies and brains
generate and sustain our capacity for mental
life. But biology cannot account for all the qualitative features of our psychology that make us persons. Whether one is conceived and comes into existence through an asexual form of reproductive cloning, or through sexual reproduction, has little to do with what makes one a person worthy of self-respect and respect from others.
genetics - types (genetic EGG)
1) Gene Therapy
2) Genetic Enhancement
3) Eugenics
gene therapy types (SG)
- Somatic-cell gene therapy
2. Germ-line genetic alteration
Somatic-cell Gene Therapy (somas correct mutations)
This involves correcting a mutated copy of a gene or inserting an additional normal copy of a gene into the cells of a person’s body.
Goal: To treat genetically caused
diseases in living humans.
germ-line alterations (and the goal)
This involves modifying the cells of gametes.
Goal: To delete or correct mutations that would be passed on to offspring.
Somatic-cell Gene Therapy - what does Glannon think
This form of therapy is for existing people.
For Glannon, the benefits of gene therapy
outweigh the risks. Besides helping people suffering with various diseases and cancer, it could also help with the development of vaccines. The key is the balance the principle of beneficence with the principle of nonmaleficence
Germ-line Genetic Alteration
It is a form of disease prevention rather than therapy.
However, Glannon thinks that because of
adverse effects being passed down to
future generations, it is best to adopt a
precautionary approach.
Genetic Enhancement (enhance immune system)
- Where gene therapy helps restore people to wholeness, genetic enhancement (GE) helps improve people beyond wholeness.
- But some see GE as a treatment as well. For example, boosting the immune system through immunization against infectious
disease.
Genetic enhancement con’t (unfair)
There is a concern regarding GE with respect to physical or cognitive traits. That this would give some people an unfair advantage over others with respect to competetive goods, for example, strength, beauty, and/or intelligence. Unlike gene therapy, there is no compelling medical or ethical reason to subsidize GE
eugenics
Eugenics literally means good creation in
Greek.
In medicine eugenics refers to improving
the human genome. But it also has
negative association with Nazi Germany
and the early sterilization programs in the U.S. and Canada
eugenics - positive and negative (negatively P and G)
- Negative Eugenics: Refers to disease prevention or disease control via genetic testing and screening, PIGD, and gene therapy. - Positive Eugenics: Refers to GE.
glannon - disability discrimination
In an era of limited budgets for education
and social services…even if there is no obligation to select against embryos that would develop into “people” with
disabilities, this does not mean that there
is an obligation to allow these embryos to develop into “people”…
glannon - more than our genes
According to Glannon:
Our bodies and our minds are not completely
determined by our genotype. The incomplete
penetrance of genotypes makes the link
between genes and most diseases a
probabilistic rather than a deterministic one
Self-replication: Stem cells (just that they replicate - that’s it)
Stem cells renew
themselves again and again, indefinitely
if not forever, in lines of cellular division
(unlike other somatic cells, except for
cancer cells…)
stem cells Lack of specialization: only function is to…
originate “daughter” specialized cells;
stem cells - Potency
Can differentiate via cell division into various specialized somatic cell types.
Cell potency is a cell’s ability to differentiate into other cell types. The more cell types a cell can differentiate into, the greater its potency
totipotent
(of an immature or stem cell) capable of giving rise to any cell type or (of a blastomere) a complete embryo.
pluripotent (and types)
(of an immature or stem cell) capable of giving rise to several different cell types. a) multipotent (cells that have the capacity to self-renew by dividing and to develop into multiple specialised cell types present in a specific tissue or organ) b) adult stem cells
unipotent
(of an immature or stem cell) capable of giving rise to only one cell type.
teleology is ….
finalism, the why of things. opposite of teleology is chance.
germ cells v. somatic cells
somatic cells are involved in building the body of multicellular animals whereas germ cells are involved in producing haploid gametes
