Re: The wicked untruths of our church leaders

loiner2003 <loiner2003@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Peter Ashby wrote:
David Aldred <nr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

If it's an egg (so unfertilised), there's no problem. Once it's a
conceived human life, it's sacred.

I have asked this question before and never got an answer. Please tell
me exactly at which point this boundary is crossed. I have pointed out
before that fertilisation/conception are processes, not events. I will
happily provide sample lists of such processes for you to choose from if
required.


A good point.

I'm just getting into "The Blind Watchmaker." Dawkins does an excellent
job of explaining the process of evolutionary development and I find
very helpful his analysis of the innumerable small stages in development
and, indeed, of the particle not blending method of taking genetic
material from parents. (How slow we were at understanding the
significance of Mendel!) It seems clear that in the whole process of
development there are in fact no clear boundary lines between one stage
and the next. If at some stage we want to say X is human whereas X minus
N (where N is the previous minute alteration) is not, then we are
imposing a human philosophy on a process for our own better
understanding (perhaps!) But there is no physical line and any
philosophical line has to be very carefully argued and justified. It
cannot be imposed.

(I was fascinated to realise the book is now over 20 years old. Dawkins'
criticism of Bishop Hugh Montefiore is brilliant. I hadn't read that
particular book of Montefiore's (The God Probability) and I am appalled
at the naivety of such an otherwise good scholar. I would earnestly hope
that Christian understanding of evolutionary theory has moved on a whole
lot since then!)

I think a lot of the failure to grasp and accept this point is that
essentialism's ghost still pervades much of our culture and attitudes.
You see this in people who still think that the old 'which came first,
the chicken or the egg?' is a serious philosophical question. In fact,
as Dawkins points out so well, it is not even wrong as it presupposes
essentialism. About the only genuine question that might perhaps be
reduced from that hoary old thing is: when did sexual reproduction
arise?

Peter
--
Add my middle initial to email me. It has become attached to a country
www.the-brights.net
.

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