The other thread sparked this post. Something has been bothering me, and I’d like to at least post it. Not really to “condem” anyone or “prove” which side is right, etc. But I’m kind of giving you a thought of mine that I’d like to express. As Kant would say I want to universalize my maxim.
First off let me say that I am no expert in cloning, and I don’t claim to know much about the science. That being said, I only deal with the issues of philosophy in that science.
I do not object to stem cell research, or even cloning embryos to get those stem cells. (as I said, I do not know much about it) However, one thing that has really bothered me, and I do object to is the thought of genetically bringing up live, thinking, and feeling, human beings for the purpose of taking their lives for medical purposes. Before I begin, I would like to make this point. Medical research is important, but it seems to me that if humans can be grown, the cloned organs needed can be grown by themselves. This is good.
A human being, whether cloned, born, made by science, religion, dirt, whatever is a sentient being. The human breathes, thinks, struggles with his own self-doubts, tries to understand the world around him and his own emotional and conscious capabilities. He feels compassion, joy, anger, jealousy, saddness, and fear. When he is injured he feels pain. When his life is to be taken away he feels fear. Some humans deal with death better than others. Some or terribly afraid of dying. Some are terribly afraid of helplessness, or pain.
If we create a human being. A clone of ourselves. And this clone grows up in our world, developing the conscious mind, the moral mind, the thinking mind, and the emotional mind, he becomes a human being. It does not matter where the human comes from. It is a human.
I don’t care whether we come from God, the earth, molecular clouds, or a test tube. We are human beings. We are living, breathing, thinking, feeling individuals. We laugh, cry, feel depression, feel joy. We are sentient beings.
If a person (not a body) is grown, and is allowed to develop into what a true person is only to be killed years later, is in my mind a terrible offense to nature and ourselves. What constitutes a person is not what he is born from, but the living, thinking, feeling, mind. The consciousness from which our species has developed.
Whether this consciousness, emotion, and morality is from “God”, “nature”, “electronic impules in our brains”, “society”, etc is irrelevant. I don’t care where it comes from.
The important and VERY REAL issue is that it is a part of us. And always will be.
I have no problem with creating host bodies, for example (with no brains, no thinking, no living, no breathing) etc. in order to host organs that we can use to better our lives. But that is the point. Do not create someone else’s LIFE only to terminate it. When life is created (no matter what its from) When true life, and true emotion, and true self-consciousness is created…no one, and I repeat NO ONE (even that creator) has the right to take it away. It is far too precious.
As I have been bombarded by those damn videos of the planes slamming into the WTC towers…I cannot help but think of all the living, breathing, feeling, dreaming, individuals inside who were killed without even a second thought. 
This is not a religious issue…this is a human one.
We are human beings. We are sentient beings. We have the GIFT of compassion, consciousness, and morality inside us. It is up to us to know how to use it right.
That is my post.
I am in no way saying that cloning is wrong.
I think the technology can save lives. And I think we should do it. But we must be responsible, and compassionate for life always. This is the only way we can survive.
To clone embryos, stem cells, and possibly even a innanimate “body” to host organs is okay with me.
Once that “body” begins to think, breath, feel, and reflect on himself…then we have a problem.
Thanks for listening.
Ryu
“One who takes pride in shallow knowledge or understanding is like a monkey who delights in adorning itself with garbage.”
