What makes abortion any different from any other form or birth control?There are asexual reproduction methods, cloning based methods, single sex things (parasitic wasps being fun ones to contemplate here), and depending upon how you want to categorise things (individual forms, biomass, area spread) some of those may even be main form of it, but the shared thing seemed like a throwaway comment so I will skip that one beyond this.
Life is actually not really where I go. I go with suffering instead. If something lacks the capability to suffer in a meaningful capacity and it prevent suffering in something that can meaningfully do so then it seems like a fairly easy decision, as time progresses then lines get a bit blurrier as far as this ethics lark goes. Though amusingly the lines where suffering and self sustaining without serious intervention life start align pretty well for a lot of things. To be fair though that was mostly the other thread I went for that one in.
The other part is a fairly standard philosophical pondering (I think I first heard it as "if I run my finger along this table it surely removes some atoms from the table, when is it no longer a table?"). It is generally noted there is no fundamental force of the universe (or direct consequence of it) that yields "human", or indeed anything much beyond the elements and their approximate distribution. We therefore get to invent a philosophy, define a human, define their value, figure out what behaviours we care to discourage and how... and thus we are having this discussion.
Again though I am still not at life, or life form capable of suffering, as much as a few ingredients with a half decent chance at becoming it one day.
"but mating is meant to produce offspring"
Meant by what and why should I care what it thinks/cares/implies? I will also return to the "does this mean I am supposed to fuck an infertile, menopausal or otherwise incapable of conceiving woman?" thing. There is a massive social component to such activities for humans and a lot of primates.
"cannot express it for themselves"
I believe that was the joke.
"So why should man place any less value on human life? Why should man strive any less intensely to save his own?"
Actions speak louder than words here (quite a few people out there living a horrific existence while we dick around on the internet), and again is it a life and is it as valued in all the same ways? Human life is not rare, you said as such, and while that is not the sole determinant of value it surely factors into this. I am also not sure it is all that useful an analogy -- saving rhinos is something of a vanity project done by humans because it is cool.
I am still stuck on this future potential thing as well. If something is essentially random (I would argue it is anything but -- nature and nurture is at play here and if nurture is out of the window because plans had to change and the time, tools and talent are not there any more nor likely to develop...) then why worry about it? Did my choosing to walk the dog this afternoon rather than go to the gym or wherever it is the ladies hang out nowadays to find someone to have kids with do the same and deny the chance of something special happening? Why is abortion different from any number of pregnancy prevention methods as far as this is concerned (if nature was allowed to take its course and all that)? Do now have an excuse for my favourite philosoraptor though
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Using a condom or birth control pill usually takes place before conception. Even though I do not classify them as superior or condone them, still they are used to prevent conception. Whereas, abortion on the other hand is used after conception to end life. One prevents the life process from ever starting while the other terminates the life process after it has begun. Those who do not value life apparently cannot grasp this concept. It's like you are blinded to the value of human life?
Man is the dominant species on this planet and not without good reason.
For instance, here in America we place high value on our pets. Many treat them as family members or even treat them better than family. Do you consider yourself to be more valuable than a pet dog, cat or hamster? Is your life more important than a wild squirrel you may chance to meet in the woods? If a choice came down to killing you who had committed no crime or a rabid wolf and that had been killing children in town and they chose to end your life, would you feel as though it was an unfair decision that they chose you over a wild wolf?
Well here in America, even though we place our animals on such a high pedestal, most would value their life much more significantly over an animal. Especially when the human life in question is highly educated with many degrees.
Man has dominion over this earth for many reasons. Not the least of which is he is the superior intellect. You've never seen nor are you likely to ever see a group of elephants sitting around debating over why they should value their unborn offsprings life because they are not capable. No other species on our world can ever be capable of establishing dominion except man.
Humans are much more than just the sum of their parts. More than just a grouping of atoms. They are defined by more than just their ability to suffer/endure suffering.
Life and the beginning of life is easy to determine for those who are willing to open their eyes. Some prefer to deny it and remain blind.