Is a fetus human?

[fantome profane]

I don't think this question can be answered until define what a human is, and that is a question that has been debated for thousands of years. So good luck on pinning that one down.

I'll put on a pot of coffee.

 

[Willamena]

Does that include the grilled cheese I had for lunch?

You are what you eat.

 

[Spiderman]

It's a human fetus.

It's not a human being?

 

[Jeremiahcp]

You are what you eat.

 

[Willamena]

A person kneels at the grave of a past ancestor, and lays a flower. Is that ancestor a human?

 

[Curious George]

It's the beginning of human life, so it is inherently human.

So, a human is a single called organism? Or a single called organism can be huma? If the latter, what are the qualifications of something to be human?

And what makes life count as life while we are at it?

 

[fantome profane]

You are what you eat.

But think of this. Your body contains billions of living bacterial cells, that are not your cells. These bacterial cells do not share your DNA, to them you are merely a host, you are the environment in which they live. And when you stand on a scale, anywhere between 40% to 60% of that weight, is not you - it is them.

 

[Curious George]

But think of this. Your body contains billions of living bacterial cells, that are not your cells. These bacterial cells do not share your DNA, to them you are merely a host, you are the environment in which they live. And when you stand on a scale, anywhere between 40% to 60% of that weight, is not you - it is them.

And yet without these, would we exist?

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

the word human, in human fetus describes the genus of the fetus.
In the same way human child or human adult does.
Human needs to be qualified, as in human being, to make any sense.
A human fetus clearly is not yet a human being, nor does it have the rights of one.

However many religions and countries do ascribe moral rights to unborn children. And place duties of care on the parents.

 

[Curious George]

the word human, in human fetus describes the genus of the fetus.
In the same way human child or human adult does.
Human needs to be qualified, as in human being, to make any sense.
A human fetus clearly is not yet a human being, nor does it have the rights of one.

However many religions and countries do ascribe moral rights to unborn children. And place duties of care on the parents.

What differentiates a human being from a fetus?

 

[fantome profane]

And yet without these, would we exist?

Of course not. But the point is that there is something inside a human body, that is not human.

(Actually I don't even know what my point is, I just think it is neat )

 

[Jeremiahcp]

And yet without these, would we exist?

If 40% of our body just vanished we would die.

 

[Curious George]

Of course not. But the point is that there is something inside a human body, that is not human.

(Actually I don't even know what my point is, I just think it is neat )

If something cannot exist without another thing are they pragmatically distinguishable. Sure we can technically distinguish parts from a whole, but why label some parts as the whole when it is not so?

 

[Curious George]

If 40% of our body just vanished we would die.

I would suggest that it depends on the parts.

 

[Spiderman]

A person kneels at the grave of a past ancestor, and lays a flower. Is that ancestor a human?

I pray and write letters to the Virgin Mary, murdered girls , and a litany of dead people and feel closer to them than my family, and believe they speak to me through visions, dreams, signs, and coincidence, so I'm the wrong person to ask

 

[Willamena]

But think of this. Your body contains billions of living bacterial cells, that are not your cells. These bacterial cells do not share your DNA, to them you are merely a host, you are the environment in which they live. And when you stand on a scale, anywhere between 40% to 60% of that weight, is not you - it is them.

Humans were human long before DNA was discovered. I am human regardless of DNA. The fetus is human in the same way the ancestor, long turned to dust, is human.

 

[Jeremiahcp]

Of course not. But the point is that there is something inside a human body, that is not human.

(Actually I don't even know what my point is, I just think it is neat )

Unless part of being a human being is being a being of many beings.

 

[Maponos]

So, a human is a single called organism? Or a single called organism can be huma? If the latter, what are the qualifications of something to be human?

And what makes life count as life while we are at it?

Yes, they are human because they are the beginnings of human life. Life is sacred and is the most sacred form of creation (just to let you know where and why I stand on this).

 

[Jeremiahcp]

I would suggest that it depends on the parts.

There might be a case with modern medicine that is true, but if it is our bacterial flora we are screwed.

 

[fantome profane]

Humans were human long before DNA was discovered.

Q. Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain on earth?

A. Mount Everest.
It was still there, it was the highest mountain on earth even if we did not know it.

Likewise, DNA existed long before we discovered it. And at least in many of the arguments put forth to say a fetus is human, it is assumed that the DNA is what makes us human

The fetus is human in the same way the ancestor, long turned to dust, is human.

And would that be the same way in which a tomato is a suspension bridge? (that is to say - not)