PAPER 2 (GAZZANIGA & SHOEMAKER)

Gazzaniga (Neural development)

Basic Approach

moral status determines ethics of abortion

moral status is not all or nothing

stages of fetal development

Neuroscience

Cost of abortion

From egg: 6 weeks before electrical brain activity/ less than a shrimp no different than bread dead

Week 8-10 reflex movement (environment interaction)

12-16 weeks frontal pole forms/ becomes neocortex

week 13 movement occurs/cant feel; sea slug status; no purposeful movement

2015: 91.1% abortions occur before this time

13-17 weeks: synapse(brain function) start occuring; week 28 formation

7.6% occur before week 21; 1.3% occur after week 21

week 23: earliest fetus can survive outside womb (huge medical support)

until 32 weeks: cannot regulate breathing nor body temp

not certain but evidence suggest fetus spend 95-100% life up to 34w unconscious (REM & non-REM)

Micro-premies

50% mortality rate first couple months; survived = 20-50% of those have severe physical/mental disabilities

not develop disability= 6m NICU care: $10k a day

micro premie: prior to 27w; less than 1kg (2.2lbs)

13-20w: $850-3000+

21w+: minimum 8000

12w: no insurance = $350-1650 (mean of $535)

3rd trimester (27w+): minimum $10k cash, usually $25k; not include cost of travel (4 in US) (procedure: up to 4d)

Shoemaker (Fertilization)

Embryo/ Fetus/ Human

Soul

Biological basics

Material Composition (Puzzles)

Primary (embryo (blastocyte) human being?)

problematic consequences: metaphysical: what is a soul/ theological: religious viewpoint

logical structure: video game conscious (wrong to kill them), not wrong to kill video characters must deny they are conscious

far back to development process

What is a fetus/embryo / what category does it fit in

Modus tollens: truth preserving = premise true = conclusion true (in buffalo, have to be in NY)

at 5 days: embryo forms into blastocyst (sprout capsule: cell shell); can become placenta; embryo reaches implantation site

after implantation: become placenta/ inner cells differentiating; become certain parts of body

first 5 days post fertilization: blastomeres undifferentiated; any cell could be human (sprout part)

Ovum fertilized= zygote; cell division = embryo

before implantation: changeable (fusion & fission) can occur

fission: blastocyst splits in two/ each form own fetus (twins)

fusion: two blastocysts become one (single fetus)

fission can happen then fuse midway = chimaera (two sets of dna)

Blastocytes

pre-implantation blastocyte out and culture = stem cells

destroys blastocyst (if believe human then whatever destroys blastocyst is morally significant) birth control not destroy (prevent)

ensoulment by God = human being (Cancer human not growth)

religious view: pre-implantation embryo is human being (already has a soul by God moment of fertilization)

Soul = potentially rational thinking thing

4 aspects

Descartes: soul thinking thing (conscious and rational) / cant be correct

substance: entity that endures across time and change (survives change)

immaterial: no spatial extension or location (cant find the soul)

potential: natural tendency toward becoming rational (leave fish eggs alone = becomes fish)

individual: one thing/simple (not complex/cannot split in two)

What has a soul?

impossible to prove (can be a fact of the matter) (murder is wrong)

diachronic unity: single thing across time lose or gain different parts and remain the same thing (ship)

synchronic unity = one complex single thing (collection of bricks compose one house)

Souls & Synchronic unity

cells are same entity because same soul

Shoemaker: ensouled =human being, there must be a thing

Duane: parts didnt compose anything, pile of bricks = pile

conception-5d: blastocyst stage; outer: placenta; inner:fetus

embryo? inner cells = soul?

Souls & Diachronic Unity

Fusion cases

  1. shoemaker: is incorrect, adam hitting himself

Twinning: one egg -> two distinct embryos; adam (fission) splits in two now what?; 1. adam both; 2. adam does not survive (two more souls not adam); 3. adam is one and another soul; 4. adam was 2 souls all along

  1. incorrect, adam cant be human in two spots; why would god do that? (just to die in 5d)
  1. maybe, violates soul come into being at conception; which adam which new soul?
  1. again at conception, implies one entity can have more than 1 soul; biological stuff is right now connected to more than 1 soul

1 & 1: what about those aborted

dont mock God; no good view; either no souls until fission/fusion done, exactly as many souls needed at conception

both souls gone, god new soul: wasteful

2 souls 1 body: which one free will?