Bob Ross

The whole point of having a discussion about abortion is to test and discuss our ethical theories. You are copping out with blanket assertions. If you...

I want to here, Banno, your moral theory. Explain it, so I can see what I am working with here. How does the graduations of rights work?

Then, Michael, you are literally arguing that there is no point at which a human being acquires rights.

I never suggested it did. I don’t know why everyone is coming at me with straw mans after I gave a very specific argument that addressed this very poi...

A genetically unique individual which has the genes of a human is, standardly, considered a member of the human species. I don’t see anything circular...

I think we are saying the same thing, then. I am saying that the concept refers to something concrete. Nooooo. The concept of space refers to extensio...

I never argued that: this is a blatant straw man. What?!? :sad: You are making me sad, Banno, with all these blatant straw mans. So your view is based...

Interesting story, and very heartfelt. I don’t think that even women in the West necessarily abort while denying the humanity of their children: I thi...

Why isn’t it real for you if you have no intuition of it??? Your car in the garage isn’t real right now, even though you have every reason to believe ...

My finger is not a beginning stage of human development: that’s the difference. All red herrings, my friend. You don’t think a baby has a place in the...

I appreciate the elaboration! The only issue I have is with your semantics: I think you are using ‘existence’ as if it is reserved for only things whi...

a homo sapiens is a contradiction in terms: it is a species. The typical definition of a species, which holds generally for its members and absolutely...

There are ways to tell: I was saying to the naked eye. We can examine it in the lab and determine if it is a human being (or, if you prefer, human fer...

No it is not. In order for X to be a member of the set of all existent square blocks, it must be a square block. This is basic biology: https://www.br...

Not to the naked eye---so?!? The point is not whether or not one can tell if it is a human being: the point is whether or not a fertilized egg is a hu...

This is basic biology. It is a member of the human species if it that certain kind of animal: homo sapien. A member of a species has to be an organism...

I appreciate the elaboration! Firstly, “a priori” refers, within the context of transcendental investigations, as “that which is independent of any po...

I am not familiar enough with quantum physics to comment back: I don't understand how to reconcile qp with practical life---it seems incoherent.

So a ‘real thing’ is real because its existence is given, and a ‘fake thing’ is an existence which is not given? How, then, do you distinguish from a ...

Please elaborate, as I am not following. Give me an example of where something is real but does not exist (if applicable); and where something exists ...

Banno, my position is that a blastocyst is a human being, not that it is a person. Can you please critique that instead of a straw man? I want to hear...

Is this “real thing” the object which was given to the senses? I am not following. Why would it be necessary that a cup exists because we experience a...

Depends on what you consider a proof. If you mean a scientific or otherwise empirical verification through an experiment, then obviously no. But it ca...

Are you conceding that you are an ableist? That quote was a consistent consequence of your own thought.

I thought you were taking a Platonic stance: I must have misunderstood. It sounds like, then, you believe that numbers are real a priori? Either way, ...

To some extent, yes: Aristotle thought that we should not just eradicate the passions but, rather, cultivate them towards what is good. That isn't a r...

A nourished seed is analogous to a fertilized egg. A seed and the nourishment required, taken separately, are the egg and sperm, taken separately, res...

If I grant your view, then every single cell in my body is its own human being. Do you see how absurd that is? A cell of a human is not the same as a ...

I am not following what you are critiquing of my comment; but I didn't suggest this "modern version" of Stoicism (which, FYI, isn't a version of Stoic...

Not quite, although I appreciate the elaboration. Dogs are cloned by conjoining a dog egg with a dog cell, which is a synthetic version of egg fertili...

Depends on your metaphysical views. For me, I would say concepts exist in minds; and those concept reference existent things when those things really ...

Stoicism doesn't teach apathy: it teaches equanimity. That's a common misconception.

A person that is temporarily knocked out (from getting punched) can't tell us what they want us to do and a person next to them that wants to rape the...

Never once did I agree to that. A skin cell absolutely cannot be cloned, and then magically is a zygote. Think about how patently incoherent that is p...

Stoicism is about eradicating suffering by detaching from things outside of one's control; and it makes a really good pragmatic philosophy for normal ...

So? It is uncontroversially true that a zygote is dependent on the mother to nourish it into viability. Are you suggesting that a person that is depen...

I am not following how we only know through contradictions (between our experiences and reality). I can imagine perfectly fine a person who infers cor...

You don't understand, without the help of a biologist, that a skin cell isn't a human being? Whether or not you can distinguish a zygote from a skin c...

I am unsure as to what exactly you are asking here: are you asking if (1) the doctor should have to wait for approval to pull the plug (in the event w...

I sincerely am not trying to straw man nor misrepresent your view: I just don’t get it (: . You distinguish between the Real and the Existent; and tha...

You already asked this question here, and I responded here.

1. I don't believe we have souls. 2. You are conflating the adjective 'human' insofar as it relates to something being a part of a human with the noun...

Agreed, to some extent. By physical, I do not mean material: I mean mind-independent. Even if we could not even know that it is mind-independently exi...

I didn't say that the living human being was a person during the entirety of gestation; and I've already noted that I ground rights in the nature of a...

A sperm and egg are alive: no one disputes that. The fact is, also, that a human being begins to exist upon conception of those two. A sperm is alive,...

I am getting closer to understanding what you are saying, but I am still not quite there. Here’s the core of our issue: I understand better now why yo...

I am not a bundle theorist; and nothing I said entails that. The mind persists as long as its underlying physical constitution is preserved through pr...

This premise is patently false, and is the denial, implicitly, that the concept of infinity is coherent. Viz., you are getting this argument to work b...

"Life begins at conception" is an imprecise short-hand for "a human life begins at conception". Stop picking the low hanging fruits: obviously a sperm...

What you are describing is a capacity to deploy a mind, and not having a mind. Therefore, you must agree that a knocked out human being technically is...