The Moral Status of Human Zygotes

1978 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 697-705
Author(s):  
Phillip Montague
Keyword(s):  
Moral Status ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Intrauterine Devices ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Living Things ◽  
Being There ◽  
Human Zygotes ◽  
Theoretical Side

A little-discussed aspect of the “conservative” position on abortion involves the claim that human beings exist at all stages of gestation — that even the human fertilized ovum (zygote) is a human being. There are good reasons of both a practical and theoretical nature why this particular idea has received so little attention in the abortion controversy. On the practical side there is the fact that zygotes are rarely if ever the subjects of abortion decisions; and on the theoretical side, there is the prima facie implausibility of the idea itself — an implausibility stemming from the fact that human zygotes possess none of the features that distinguish clear-cut examples of human beings from other living things.I would like to suggest, however, that there are good reasons — again both practical and theoretical — for examining with some care the idea that human zygotes are human beings. For even if this idea is not central to the abortion controversy, it has clear relevance to the morality of using intrauterine devices (I.U.D.'s) as a means of procreation control.

scholarly journals Animal Rights: A Philosophical Evaluation

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (Issue 4) ◽  
pp. 119-124
Author(s):  
Innocent Sanga
Keyword(s):  
Animal Rights ◽  
Moral Status ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Philosophical Debate ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
General Overview ◽  
Christian Perspective

Animal right is one of the most controversial issues in the contemporary world. A number of scholars have been discussing on whether the animals have rights like human beings or not. Through this debate, their opinions can be put into three groups; those who deny animal moral status, those who give some moral considerations to animals but deny them a fuller moral status, and those who extend rights to animals. This paper then gives a general overview on ‘Do Animals have Rights?’ It gives the meaning of the term “right” and explains whether the term right applies to animals too. It also portrays a drama whereby animals complain against sufferings imposed on them by human beings and a response given by a human being. It is also followed by philosophical debate on animal rights: pro and cons arguments. The Christian perspective is not left out. Finally, the paper ends with critical evaluations and conclusion. In evaluation of the debate on animal rights, the study found that, animals deserve to be treated well based on the argument that they have rights as animals. The main recommendation is that human beings should change their perception concerning animals by respecting animal.

scholarly journals Zwierzęta i ludzie, czyli granice moralności

Etyka ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 177-197
Author(s):  
Bernard Rollin
Keyword(s):  
Moral Status ◽  
Moral Concern ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Relevant Feature ◽  
Natural Signs ◽  
Moral Attention ◽  
Intricate Argument

A much neglected question in the foundations of ethics concerns the moral status of non-human beings. Our intuitions are equivocal, and various theories have been advanced to distinguish between men and animals with regard to inclusion in the scope of moral concern. Various ground for drawing the distinction such as evolutionary supremacy, can be rejected as morally irrelevant. The key distinction historically employed for effecting a demarcation is rationality, which has been linked with the possession of language. The most systematic attempt to link language, rationality, and moral status is that of Kant, who can be seen as attempting to prove that only rational, linguistic, beings – and thus only human beings – fall within the scope of moral concern. This intricate argument can be criticized in a variety of ways. lf correct, it would exclude children, the retarded, the insane, the comatose, etc. from moral concern. More important, is follows from Kant’s argument that rationality is the only morally relevant feature of a rational being, in which case it is difficult to see why features of a human being which are or may be irrelevant to rationality – fur example pleasure or pain – are worthy of moral attention. Clearly morality encompasses more than rationality; in fact, rationa1ity is morally relevant only because it is an interest for a rational being. It is the presence of interest, and needs, wants, desires, etc., which are subject to fulfilment, nurture, and impediment which makes a being an object of moral attention. Language is relevant as a vehicle for conveying needs and interests, but natural signs serve just as well. Thus if men are objects of moral concern, animals are also, since no morally relevant distinction can be drawn between men and animals, and because animals display the same morally relevant features that humans do.

scholarly journals ¿Qué es eso que llaman cultura?

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (10) ◽  
pp. 7-14
Author(s):  
Blanca Sofía Cruz-Ricárdez
Keyword(s):  
Basic Needs ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Ways Of Thinking ◽  
Being There ◽  
Over Time

The word culture refers to the action of cultivating, but over time it has been used to name and encompass different actions, behaviors, manifestations and ways of thinking of the human being. There are several (as) authors (as) who have tried to define it, but in some cases they only focus on the type of settlement or ways of adapting to the environment, the kinds of tools, artifacts or products; Others are more inclined to the behavior of human beings, their beliefs and interactions with different groups, ways of organizing their society or understanding and explaining the environment. By managing to satisfy their basic needs, human beings have been building more complex manifestations, both material, intellectual and spiritual, and for this reason, the definitions of culture have also been changing.

Human Dignity and the Foundations of Human Rights

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Tasioulas
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Moral Status ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
In Virtue Of

This chapter investigates whether or not human rights are grounded in human dignity. Starting from an interest-based account of human rights, it rejects two objections to that account that have been pressed in the name of human dignity: the deontological and the personhood objections. More positively, it contends that human dignity is the equal moral status possessed by all human beings simply in virtue of their possession of a human nature, and that so understood, it has an essential role to play in grounding human rights, but that it can only play this role in tandem with universal human interests. In particular, human dignity is central to explaining both why humans can possess rights and why these rights are resistant to trade-offs. The chapter concludes with some reflections on the implications of this view for whether each and every human being possesses all of the standard human rights.

scholarly journals Siðferðisbrot og kristinn mannskilningur

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sólveig Anna Bóasdóttir
Keyword(s):  
Human Dignity ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Personal Boundaries ◽  
Christian View ◽  
Christian Understanding ◽  
Being There ◽  
Core Idea ◽  
The Church

Moral violation within the Christian church is the drive behind this article which deals with the Christian understanding of the human being. There are two main areas of focus: moral violation and the Christian view of the human being. In order to understand what constitutes a moral violation, one must consider the nature of morality, and some essential concepts of ethics, e.g. respect for the person, autonomy, and human dignity. The conclusion of the discussion of the nature of morality is that autonomy and human dignity are essential values when it comes to human existence, and indicators of the moral constitution of a human being. To acknowledge these values, we need to keep a certain distance from people, and to make sure not to transcend their personal boundaries. If we don’t, we violate them morally, and not only the person in question, but society as well. The second section of the article emphasizes the value of biblical and Christian understanding of the human being for the Church´s responses, including actions, when its personnel transcends personal boundaries. The core idea of human dignity within a theological context concerns the human being as the image of God, referring to his/hers unique capabilities, such as self-awareness and responsibility. According to a Christian understanding, the members of the church consists of sinful people, whose sins God has forgiven. The church is the gathering of saints and justified persons, who are, at the same time, sinful and wicked. This tension is an important part of Christian understanding of human beings, stressing the fact that we are not perfect beings, but nevertheless, we may believe that we are God’s children. Forgiveness is a gift which God offers, but first we must be willing to confess our sins and repent, because only after repenting can we be forgiven.

Conceptions of Trust in the Qur'an

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nora S. Eggen
Keyword(s):  
Social Trust ◽  
Social Ethics ◽  
Religious Discourse ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Normative Claim ◽  
Trust Relationship ◽  
Trust Relationships ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
The Guardian

In the Qur'an we find different concepts of trust situated within different ethical discourses. A rather unambiguous ethico-religious discourse of the trust relationship between the believer and God can be seen embodied in conceptions of tawakkul. God is the absolute wakīl, the guardian, trustee or protector. Consequently He is the only holder of an all-encompassing trusteeship, and the normative claim upon the human being is to trust God unconditionally. There are however other, more polyvalent, conceptions of trust. The main discussion in this article evolves around the conceptions of trust as expressed in the polysemic notion of amāna, involving both trust relationships between God and man and inter-human trust relationships. This concept of trust involves both trusting and being trusted, although the strongest and most explicit normative claim put forward is on being trustworthy in terms of social ethics as well as in ethico-religious discourse. However, ‘trusting’ when it comes to fellow human beings is, as we shall see, framed in the Qur'an in less absolute terms, and conditioned by circumstantial factors; the Qur'anic antithesis to social trust is primarily betrayal, ‘khiyāna’, rather than mistrust.

Value and Character Education Based on Qur’anic

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 182-188
Author(s):  
Eva Nurhaeny
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Character Education ◽  
Young Generation ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Individual ◽  
Moral Dimensions ◽  
Long Life ◽  
Culture Development ◽  
Education Concept

This essay discusses based on Qur’anic value and character education. In gobalization era, it has great impact on young behaviour change such as fighting, free sex, drug and other delinquencies. The occurred result is serious enough and it cannot be assumed just as a simple matter again, mainly that the subjects and the victim are young people whose have professions as students. The fact indicates that education world has to give an important role toward preventing national moral decadency in the effort of preparing the better future young generation. In this regard, we are aware that the education goal, basically, is to build better morality of human being or in another term is to “humanize the human being”. An idea regarding the significance of character education was appeared as a given solution in answering the morality problem in Indonesian education world. Character education is part of value education. That why, looking for the character education concept has been very urgent in the effort of preparing excellent, faithful, professional and personalized leaner as being asked by the education goal. The essence of characterized behavior actually is the psychological totality form which includes the whole human individual potency of cognitive, affective and psycho-motoric aspects, and also socio-cultural totality function in the context of interaction with God, him or herself, other human beings and the environment in his or her long life. Furthermore, in Qur’an’s teaching, the figure of the Messenger Peace be upon him (PBUH) is viewed as “the model human being”. In this context, the concept of Qur’anic charactereducation can be found through three moral dimensions that should be actualized in human being personality. They are the morality toward Allah (spiritual quotient/ intelligence), the morality toward our self (emotional quotient) and the morality toward Allah’s creatures, human being and environment (social quotient). Then, school should make the Holy Qur’an as the foundation of character education’s implementation whereas the implementation form in the school can be developed through intra-curricular, extra-curricular or personality and school culture development.

Management of Value Based Education and Spirituality: A Practical Application by Mahamana Malaviyaji in BHU

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gitali Choudhury
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Education System ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Indian Culture ◽  
Good Citizen ◽  
Social Animals ◽  
Genuine Effort ◽  
Civilized Society

Education is the backbone of a civilized society. Values have an important role in education system of any society. Most important thing is that, education should be based on some core values of human being like truthfulness, honesty, justice, good behavior etc. Only this can help a society to maintain a peaceful atmosphere. As all human beings are social animals, so this is the duty of every human being to obey their social responsibility. Mahamana Malaviyaji is one of those great personalities who felt his social responsibility very well and established Banaras Hindu University to bring people out from the mode of ignorance. He values our Indian culture and tradition, which is based on Bhagavat Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. His genuine effort was to build the character of new generations, so that they can be a good citizen of the country and thus can serve the country. This paper intends to focus on Mahamana’s practical thoughts and applications to contribute to the value-based education system.

A Liberdade e a Justiça: horizontes para uma racionalidade socioambiental

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Luis Sepúlveda Ferriz
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Great Opportunity ◽  
The World ◽  
Authentic Development ◽  
Sense Of Justice

Freedom and Justice have always been challenged. Since the most remote times, and in the most varied circumstances of places and people, human beings have tried to clarify and put into practice these two controversial concepts. Freedom and Justice, in effect, are words, but also dreams, desires and practices that, not being imperfect, are less sublime and ambitious. Reflecting on them on the basis of an ethics of development and socioenvironmental sustainability is still a great challenge in our contemporaneity. This book is born from the need that we all have to reflect, understand what our role is in relation to the OTHER, understood as the other as Environment. Doing this from such disparate areas and at the same time as current as Economics, Philosophy and Ecology, is still a great opportunity to discuss complexity, transdisciplinarity and the inclusion of diverse themes, but which all converge in the Human Being and its relationship with the world. Endowing human beings with Freedom and a sense of Justice means RESPONSIBILITY. To be free and to want a better and fairer world is to endow our existence with meaning and meaning. Agency, autonomy, functioning, dignity, rights, are capacities that must be leveraged individually and collectively for authentic development to exist. Development as Freedom is a valid proposal for thinking about a socio-environmental rationality that interferes in the controversial relations between economics, ethics and the environment.

PLACE EFFECT: MOTOR, COGNITIVE AND SELF CONFIDENCE BEHAVIORS

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naveed Shibli ◽  
Fariha Zahid
Keyword(s):  
Motor Performance ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Significant Information ◽  
Academic Confidence ◽  
Cognitive Behaviors ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Group A ◽  
Group B ◽  
Academic Self Efficacy

<p></p><p>Human beings live in various places. Place affects human being. A few experiments were conducted on 200 students, including 100 male and 100 female. Participants were the students of a selected school. Place effect on participants’ motor, cognitive behaviors and academic confidence studied. The subjects were divided into two groups. Group-A was consisted of students those were in the school for more than 5 years, whereas in group-B students with less than 5 years stay in the school were there. It was assumed that duration as stay in the school representing place effect may provide some relationship link? Following instruments were used; Taping Board (Electronic) 10 trails for both groups as motor performance, Star Mirror Drawing (Electronics) 10 trails with preferred hand both groups for transfer as cognition and Academic Self-efficacy Scale for all groups for academic confidence implied in similar controlled conditions. The results provided useful significant information about the place effect; some emic proposition regarding gender also emerged. More studies recommended.</p><br><p></p>

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