philosophical question of the day: value of a human life
a man can save five total strangers by sacrificing his own life. if he chooses not to, does this make him inherently evil? what if that number was fifty? two hundred? two million? if choosing your own life over those of strangers is unequivocally an "evil" choice, why does society celebrate supposed "heroes" rather than just acknowledge that they performed their civic duty as should be expected? and if it is the case that performing said heroic act at the expense of a human life is a societal expectation, why are people still fighting against the research and treatment use of embryonic stem cells? why can't an aborted fetus (which would have been aborted anyway, stem cells or no stem cells) mean hope and promise for those afflicted with countless debilitating and horrifying dieases?
Why would it be evil? The most basic animal instinct (and plant, for that matter) is self-preservation. It just makes sense that when a building is falling on top of you, you get out, rather than try to get everyone out. Nature knows what she's doing when she decides these traits are necessary.
The only time this should naturally be pushed aside is by parents, for offspring, which again makes perfect sense, as the second most basic animal instinct is reproduction, and babies aren't generally all that good at caring for themselves.
However, many creatures are able to look at a situation and decide if the risk is worth taking, and the price worth paying, and they act accordingly. This -is- a noteworthy action because it goes against what's normal. There are many times when I argue the validity of terms like Hero, and often I question the truth of the situation, but there are people and animals who walk straight into terror to bring someone else out, and that is impressive.
As for the aborted fetus part of your questionnaire, I see no reason stem cell research should be so maligned, but I do know that many people are thinking
> Just-a-baby!
> It didn't have an option as to whether its body be used for science
> It didn't choose to be aborted
> It should never have been aborted, period.
and all the et ceteras that make more sense to them.
It is not evil to save yourself, it is just very noble to save others.
I agree that stem cell research should be allowed, there is no "what if" factor to it. The baby was aborted, there is no life one way or another so why waste something from what is already dead what could save something that might yet be saved.
People never seem to realize that they have no say in what someone will or won't do so why argue over something they can never win. But instead see what good or bad have or could have come of it. Would you rather see a child come into the home of an unloving parent, spend what little life they have unwanted and neglected, perhaps even die anyway. Would you want to see someone die who could of been saved by something society has deemed immoral by dint of faith?
No there is no question that what will be will be, and what must be should.
Last edited by thekinetic; 11-18-2012 at 11:59 AM.
I agree with both of the above responses. It is a heroic thing to sacrifice yourself to save one or many people, but it does not make you evil to choose to save yourself either.
I appreciate stem cell research. If we didn't have this type of research, we couldn't save the many lives we already have living. I am not saying at one time an aborted fetus was not "living", but only that it doesn't know one way or another what is happening to it.
Well it would depend if it has the spark of life yet, does it have a consciousness of it's own. No one can answer this but only theorize. An acorn is just a acorn and if it does have life then all those peanuts I ate make me a horrible being! XD
Well it would depend if it has the spark of life yet, does it have a consciousness of it's own. No one can answer this but only theorize. An acorn is just a acorn and if it does have life then all those peanuts I ate make me a horrible being! XD
Sorry that joke was in horrible taste!
plant-baby-killer! someone should organise a prayer circle to banish your evil from the world!
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
Similar Threads
Or maybe it was intended.. 
