Phil 2 - exam 3

Question 1

Pre-­implantation ge­ne­tic diagnosis (PGD) has been available since 1990 in conjunction with IVF.

Answer 1

One cell (blastomere) is removed from a cleaving embryo ex utero and tested for a par­tic­u­lar ge­ne­tic or chromosomal abnormality.

Question 2

A surrogate (my gate is your gate)

Answer 2

provides her own oocytes, fertilized with sperm from the man in another couple to whom she relinquishes the child upon delivery.

Question 3

Marquis - the assumption about abortion (the assumption about a sort of being)

Answer 3

The moral permissibility of abortion
“stands or falls on whether or not a
fetus is the sort of being whose life it is
seriously wrong to end.”

Question 4

Marquis- problem with anti-abortion (anti-abortion is cancer)

Answer 4

“[The] principle “It is always prima facie
wrong to take a human life” seems to
entail that it is wrong to end the existence
of a living human cancer-cell culture, one
the ground that the culture is both living
and human. Therefore, it seems that the
anti-abortionist’s favored principle is too
broad.”

Question 5

Marquis- problem with pro-abortion (pro infants?)

Answer 5

The problem with narrow principles is that
they do not embrace enough…the
needed principles such as “It is prima facie
wrong to kill only persons”
or
“It is prima
facie wrong to kill only rational agents” do
not explain why it is wrong to kill infants or
young children….

Question 6

Marquis - merely believe

Answer 6

“[If]	we	merely	believe,	but	do	not	
understand,	why	killing	adult	human	
beings	such	as	ourselves	is	wrong,	how	
could	we	conceivably	show	that	abortion	is	
either	immoral	or	permissible?

Question 7

Marquis - why is it wrong to kill?

Answer 7

“What primarily makes killing wrong is neither its effect on the murderer nor its effect on the victim’s friends and relatives, but its effect on the victim. The loss of one’s life is one of the
greatest losses one can suffer. The loss of
one’s life deprives one of all the experiences,
ac-vi-es, projects, and enjoyments that would
otherwise have constituted one’s future.”

Question 8

Marquis - why is wrong to kill con’t

Answer 8

“Some parts of my future are not valued by me now, but will come to be valued by me as I grow older and as my values and capacities change…when I die, I am deprived of all of the value of my future…what makes killing any adult human being prima facie seriously wrong is the loss of his or her future.”

Question 9

Marquis - obvious consequences (obviously identical)

Answer 9

The future of a standard fetus includes a set of
experiences, projects, activities, and such which
are identical with the futures of adult human
beings and are identical with the futures of
young children. Since the reason that is
sufficient to explain why it is wrong to kill
human beings after the time of birth is a reason
that also applies to fetuses, it follows that
abortion is prima facie seriously morally
wrong

Question 10

Marquis - contraception

Answer 10

“[The] immorality of contraception is
not entailed by the loss of a future-like ours argument simply because there is
no nonarbitrary identifiable subject of
the loss in the case of contraception.

Question 11

Marquis - self-evident

Answer 11

[Based on] the assumption that the
permissibility of abortion stands or falls on the
moral status of the fetus. Since a fetus
possesses a property, the possession of which
in adult human beings is sufficient to make
killing…wrong, abortion is wrong…this
[argument] seems superior [to other
arguments]…because it rests on an ethics of
killing which is close to self-evident. …because the crucial morally relevant
property clearly applies to fetuses, and
because the argument avoids the usual
equivocations on ‘human life,’ ‘human
being,’ or person.
’”

Question 12

Warren - the moral community

Answer 12

The question which we must answer in
order to produce a satisfactory solution to
the problem of abortion is this: How are we
to define the moral community, the set of
beings with full and equal moral rights, such
that we can decide whether a human fetus
is a member of the community or not?

Question 13

Warren - human has 2 meanings (moral and genetic - just her argument)

Answer 13

Traditional Pro-Life Argument:
P1. It is wrong to kill innocent human beings.
P2. Fetuses are innocent human beings.
C. Thus, it is wrong to kill fetuses.
Warren thinks the term “Human” is being used equivocally in P1 and P2. In P1 it is used in the moral sense, and in P2 it is used in the genetic sense. Thus, the conclusion does not follow.

Question 14

Warren - criteria for personhood (CCRAM)

Answer 14

1. Consciousness: conscious of objects and
   events…capacity to feel pain.
2. Reasoning: the developed capacity to solve new and relatively complex problems.
3. Self-motivated activity: activity which is relatively independent of either gene6c or direct external control.
4. Capacity to communicate messages of an
   indefinite variety of types.
5. Self-Awareness

Question 15

Warren - right to life

Answer 15

“It does seem reasonable to suggest that
the more like a person, in the relevant
respects, a being is, the stronger is the
case for regarding it as having a right to life, and indeed the stronger its right to life is.”

Question 16

Warren - right to life con’t

Answer 16

“[It] is clear that even though a seven- or eight month fetus has features which make it apt to
arouse in us almost the same powerful protective instinct as is commonly aroused by a small infant, nevertheless it is not significantly more personlike
than is a very small embryo…Thus, in the relevant respects, a fetus, even a fully developed one, is considerably less personlike than is the average mature mammal, indeed the average fish.

Question 17

Warren - potential persons rights

Answer 17

But even if a potential person does have
some prima facie right to life, such a right could not possibly outweigh the right of a woman to obtain an abortion, since the rights of any actual person invariably
outweigh those of any potential person,
whenever the two conflict.

Question 18

Warren - conclusion

Answer 18

“Thus, neither a fetus’s resemblance to a
person, nor its potential for becoming a
person provides any basis whatever for the
claim that it has any significant right to life.

Question 19

Warren - to show that a fetus is not a person, it must possess

Answer 19

none of the characteristics of personhood

Question 20

Warren claims that if the violinist analogy is accurate, abortion is

Answer 20

a deeply tragic act

Question 21

According to Warren, infanticide is:

Answer 21

a. virtually never justified in our society.
b. sometimes justified in extreme circumstances.
c. morally different than a late-term abortion.

Question 22

Thomson’s 2 arguments

Answer 22

1) She argues that abortion is generally
permissible, not that it is always
permissible.
2) She argues that, although it is permissible
to detach one’s body from the fetus
through abortion, it is not permissible to
guarantee the death of a baby once it is
born (i.e., infanticide).

Question 23

Thomson - right to life

Answer 23

“[The] right to life consists not in the right
not to be killed, but rather in the right not to be killed unjustly.”
Thus, the “unborn person” may have “a right
to its mother’s body only if her pregnancy
resulted from a voluntary act, undertaken in
full knowledge of the chance a pregnancy
might result from it.”

Question 24

Thomson - right to secure death

Answer 24

[While] I am arguing for the permissibility
of abortion in cases, I am not arguing for
the right to secure the death of the unborn
child…I have argued that you are not
morally required to spend nine months in
bed, sustaining the life of that violinist; but
to say this is by no means to say that if,
when you unplug yourself, there is a
miracle and he survives, you then have a
right to turn around and slit his throat.

Question 25

Thomson - right to secure death con't

Answer 25

``` “You may detach yourself even if this costs him his life; you have no right to be guaranteed his death, by some other means, if unplugging yourself does not kill him. There are some people who will feel dissatisfied by this feature of my argument.” ```

Question 26

Thomson - negative and positive rights

Answer 26

Negative rights outweigh positive rights because the right not to be burdened or harmed has more moral weight than the right to be benefited. The pregnant woman has a negative right not to be burdened or to take on risk. The fetus’ positive rights violate the woman’s negative right.

Question 27

Thomson key points

Answer 27

The “famous violinist” has no right, in many cases, to the woman’s body. • Unborn persons whose existence is due to rape have no right to the use of their mothers’ bodies. • The woman does not automatically have a special relationship to the fetus.

Question 28

Beckwith - 3 categories of issues with violinist

Answer 28

1. Ethical (4) 2. Legal (2) 3. Ideological (3)

Question 29

Beckwith - ethical issues #1 (obligation towards the weak)

Answer 29

Thomson assumes volunteerism. Beckwith argues that there are special obligations between parents and the child that resulted from the parents’ act of sexual intercourse. And that this obligation is “necessary in any civilized culture in order to preserve the rights of the vulnerable, the weak, the young

Question 30

Beckwith - ethical issue #2 (family is everything)

Answer 30

Thomson’s argument is fatal to family morality. “[Volunteerism] is fatal to family morality, which has as one of its central beliefs that an individual has special and filial obligations to his [or her] offspring and family that he [or she] does not have to other persons

Question 31

Beckwith - ethical issue #3 (naturally dependent on mother)

Answer 31

A case can be made that the unborn does have a prima facie right to her mother’s body. - the unborn is naturally dependent to her mother (unlike the violinist) - natural development occurs in the womb - the same entity when born has a natural claim upon her parents

Question 32

Beckwith - ethical issue #4 (killing)

Answer 32

Thomson ignores the fact that abortion is indeed killing and not merely the withholding of treatment. “[There] is no doubt that such ‘withholding’ of treatment (and it seems totally false to call ordinary shelter and sustenance ‘treatment’) is indeed murder

Question 33

Beckwith - legal problems (legally understand the other)

Answer 33

Thomson’s argument ignores tort law. From a real case: “The obligation arises when one ‘understands and appreciates’ the condition of the other.” Judge Noonan and Beckwith thinks that this applies to the mother and her unborn.

Question 34

Beckwith legal problem (family law)

Answer 34

Thomson’s argument ignores family law. “Thomson’s argument is inconsistent with the body of well-established family law, which presupposes parental responsibility of a child’s welfare.”

Question 35

Beckwith - ideological problem (idea of preg is wrong)

Answer 35

Inconsistent use of the burden of pregnancy. “Thomson has to paint pregnancy in the most horrific of terms in order to make her argument seem plausible…[Dr.] Nathanson points out that ‘pregnancy is not a ‘sickness’. Few pregnant women are bedridden and many, emotionally and physically, have never felt better.

Question 36

Beckwith - ideological problem (state mandates)

Answer 36

The libertarian principles underlying Thomson’s case are inconsistent with the state-mandated agenda of radical feminism. “[Feminists] who advocate state-mandated quotas, state-mandated comparable worth pay scales…will go on to advocate abortion on the basis of an absolute libertarianism as odds with every one of those policies.”

Question 37

Beckwith - ideological problem - macho

Answer 37

Thomson’s argument implies a macho view of bodily control, a view inconsistent with true feminism. “[Abortion] involves violence against a small, weak and dependent child. It is macho control, the very kind the feminist movement most eloquently opposes in other contexts.”

Question 38

Moral status

Answer 38

``` Moral status is a property that gives individuals a claim on others, who in turn have an obligation to treat these individuals as part of the moral community. ```

Question 39

Personhood (the person is moral)

Answer 39

The concept of personhood is usually attributed to human beings that have moral status. Moral status is the condition by which human beings are considered for direct moral concern by other persons

Question 40

personhood con't (inherent or gained?)

Answer 40

``` Some argue that personhood is a status that some beings have by the very nature of being a human being, while others argue that personhood is an attribute that is gained through a process or the actualization of par(cular attributes or capaci(es. ```

Question 41

Moral status of embryos - Glannon

Answer 41

``` Glannon assesses that because embryos lack identity-preserving potential and moral status, it would not be wrong to prevent their development into fetuses and persons ```

Question 42

Glannon - moral status of embryos con't (extrinsic is what matters)

Answer 42

He argues that “the moral value of an embryo is not an intrinsic property of the embryo, but an extrinsic property falling under the procreative autonomy of its genetic parents.” Thus as an expression of autonomy, according to Glannon, parents may consent to allow their embryos to be used for therapeutic research.

Question 43

Moral status of embryo - critics of Glannon

Answer 43

Some critics of Glannon, for example, Beckwith, would disagree with his premise attributed to opponents of abortion with respect to the embryo. Glannon states, “[Pro-Life advocates] argue that embryos have the potential to become persons and that this potential gives a moral status to embryos….” Beckwith argues the other way around, that human embryos are persons with potential and not potential persons.

Question 44

conservative argument - embryo (just that personhood begins at conception)

Answer 44

1. If personhood begins at conception, then harvesting stem cells that result in the death of the embryo is the intentional killing of an innocent person. 2. Personhood begins at conception. 3. Therefore, harvesting stem cells that result in the death of the embryo is the intentional killing of an innocent person

Question 45

Moesteller Teleology

Answer 45

“If teleology (purpose) is present in biological organisms, and if the distinction of ways that an organism can actually have a property in the mode of potentiality or in the mode of actuality is logically coherent, then it remains to consider whether these two things are related. In fact, they are related.

Question 46

Moesteller Teleology con't

Answer 46

The ontological distinction of modes of having a property is dependent on the existence of teleology in nature. Necessarily a being which has a property in the mode of actuality had that property ontologically prior to it in the mode of potentiality. The two are inseparable. The existence of natural biological teleology in human organisms implies the reality of the distinction.If this is right, then necessarily any property that is specified as the determinate mark of personhood will be had in the mode of potentiality logically prior to the mode of actuality by the human organism capable of having that property in the mode of actuality. This is guaranteed by uninterrupted natural biological teleology. Thus, any property specified as a criterion for personhood is actually had by the human organism at all stages of its teleological development.

Question 47

Moesteller teleology final

Answer 47

This would indicate a strong reason to think that personhood is continually had by all organisms capable of teleological development that ends in (without interruption the exhibition of any criterion of personhood. If this is right, then all post conception embryos, including frozen embryos are persons.”

Question 48

Procreative Autonomy According to Glannon (just do it, or not)

Answer 48

it consists in two equally significant rights: 1) The right to procreate 2) The right to avoid procreation And when these two conflict, the right to avoid procreation supersedes the right to procreate. (see Negative Right)

Question 49

Surrogate pregnancy

Answer 49

A form of assisted reproductive technology that makes use of third party donations. Reasons why a woman or a man or a couple seek a surrogate include infertility or a potentially high-risk pregnancy

Question 50

types of surrogacy (CAT G)

Answer 50

* Traditional Surrogacy (artificial insemination) * Gestational Surrogacy (IVF) (carrier) * Commercial Surrogacy (payment) * Altruistic (Rescue) Surrogacy

Question 51

Glannon on surrogacy

Answer 51

``` “Unless it can be shown that a woman’s decision to be a surrogate is not informed or not voluntary, there is no good reason to think that surrogate pregnancy is clearly exploitative of women. On the contrary, it may be taken as one expression of a woman’s freedom to do what she wants with her own body?” ```

Question 52

sex selection

Answer 52

``` Sperm sorting, PIGD, amniocentesis, and ultrasound can all reveal the sex of the developing embryo or fetus. - It is one thing to know that a future child will be male or female. - It is quite another to abort a fetus or terminate an embryo on the basis of this knowledge. ```

Question 53

sex selection - girls

Answer 53

According to Glannon, recent studies show that in 92 percent of cases where couples already had a girl, pregnancies were aborted when prenatal ultrasound revealed that the next child would also be a girl.

Question 54

glannon - sex selection is permissible...

Answer 54

1) For medical reasons in order to prevent harm to a child who would be born with a severe disease. 2) If families are autonomous units, and if parents believe that having a child of a particular sex will promote the child’s welfare, then selecting a male over a female child is morally permissible.

Question 55

cloning (just clone the nucleus)

Answer 55

Reproductive Cloning vs. Therapeutic Cloning Cloning involves inserting the nucleus of an adult human somatic cell into a human egg whose nucleus has been removed (somatic-cell nuclear transfer). Somatic cells are distinguished from germ cells of the sperm or egg

Question 56

therapeutic cloning

Answer 56

``` It has the potential to rejuvenate tissues or even replace organs damaged from diseases such as Parkinson’s, diabetes, and heart disease. Here an embryo is cloned and the stem-cell lines are extracted. ```

Question 57

stem cell research - can be taken from...(just 2)

Answer 57

blastocysts created via IVF, explicitly for the sake of harvesting stem cells. ``` Blastocyst might also be created through SCNT (“cloning”), in order to yield ESCs (embryonic stem cell) with patient's own genetic code.. ```

Question 58

stem cell basics - distinctive properties (stem cells have prell - PRL)

Answer 58

Self-replication Lack of specialization Potency

Question 59

self-replication of stem cell line: involves 2 mechanisms (obliged to spastic self-replicate)

Answer 59

Obligatory asymmetric replication and Stochastic differentation

Question 60

Obligatory asymmetric replication (obligated to not be like mother)

Answer 60

stem cell divides into i) one daughter cell of a differentiated, specialized type, and ii) one daughter stem cell identical to the mother cell;

Question 61

Stochastic differentation (chastic different sisters)

Answer 61

one stem cell divides into two differentiated daughter cells; simultaneously, a second stem cell divides into two stem cell daughters, identical to itself.

Question 62

stem cell types (tote my pluri uni)

Answer 62

totipotent, pluripotent = a) multipotent, b) adult stem cells, and unipotent.

Question 63

Applications of stem cell biotechnologies

Answer 63

Regenerative (reparative) medicine: tissue replacement and cell-based therapies for organ repair (potentially, organ replacement); Pharmaceutical development and testing; Research applications in embryology and cell biology

Question 64

adult v. embryonic (what type of potent)

Answer 64

``` Embryonic stem cells, isolated from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst, are pluripotent. 2. Stem cells taken from different adult body-sites are only multipotent. ```

Question 65

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC): (inducing an adult)

Answer 65

Adult (multipotent) stem cells that are induced to become pluripotent, through genomic alterations that allow for wider specialization/differentation of daughter cells. – Mouse iPSC’s first reported in 2006; human iPSCs first reported in 2007

Question 66

Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT), aka | Cloning (cloning scent)

Answer 66

Technique may be used for research purposes or reproductive purposes, each raising separate sets of moral and ethical issues; Cloning for research: controversial because blastocysts are created explicitly for research in which they will be destroyed

Question 67

ESC research

Answer 67

Opponents of ESC research typically hold that: – The blastocyst or embryo is a person morally equivalent to an adult human being, is “one of us ” (2002 President’s Commission); – Its status as a morally-equivalent person begins at fertilization of the egg; – Thus, destruction of the embryo for ESC research is unjustiied killing of an innocent human being; – And any benefits of ESC research come at too high a price.

Question 68

ESC research - opponents

Answer 68

Opponents of cloning-for-research typically hold that, in addition: – A further degree of wrongdoing is achieved when an embryo is created specifically in order to be destroyed in research; – Cloning, even “just for research,” marks the beginning of asexual reproduction and a leap forward in manipulation of human life;

Question 69

ESC opponents - con't

Answer 69

Opponents…in addi(on: – Cloning for research purposes amounts to “complete instrumentalization of nascent human life” since it allows creation of a life for the purpose of its destruction; – Thus opening up way to ever more radical experiments, on later-stage embryos, fetuses; organ development in later-stage fetuses; reproductive cloning, etc. etc.

Question 70

ESC proponents

Answer 70

Proponents of ESC Research typically argue against the claim that the early embryo has moral status comparable to a grown human person; see Steinbock’s criticism of the embryo as an end in itself; • Some proponents insist that embryos deserve more limited respect, as “potent symbols of human life”

Question 71

Glannon on cloning

Answer 71

Concerns about cloning violating human dignity are misguided because they focus too much on the biological means through which we come into existence. We possess dignity because we are persons with autonomous desires, beliefs, and intentions that are not entirely functions of our biology. To be sure, biology has a necessary role in our…

Question 72

glannon on cloning con't

Answer 72

[Mental] life insofar as our bodies and brains generate and sustain our capacity for mental life. But biology cannot account for all the qualitative features of our psychology that make us persons. Whether one is conceived and comes into existence through an asexual form of reproductive cloning, or through sexual reproduction, has little to do with what makes one a person worthy of self-respect and respect from others.

Question 73

genetics - types (genetic EGG)

Answer 73

1) Gene Therapy 2) Genetic Enhancement 3) Eugenics

Question 74

gene therapy types (SG)

Answer 74

1. Somatic-cell gene therapy | 2. Germ-line genetic alteration

Question 75

Somatic-cell Gene Therapy (somas correct mutations)

Answer 75

This involves correcting a mutated copy of a gene or inserting an additional normal copy of a gene into the cells of a person’s body. Goal: To treat genetically caused diseases in living humans.

Question 76

germ-line alterations (and the goal)

Answer 76

This involves modifying the cells of gametes. | Goal: To delete or correct mutations that would be passed on to offspring.

Question 77

Somatic-cell Gene Therapy - what does Glannon think

Answer 77

This form of therapy is for existing people. For Glannon, the benefits of gene therapy outweigh the risks. Besides helping people suffering with various diseases and cancer, it could also help with the development of vaccines. The key is the balance the principle of beneficence with the principle of nonmaleficence

Question 78

Germ-line Genetic Alteration

Answer 78

It is a form of disease prevention rather than therapy. However, Glannon thinks that because of adverse effects being passed down to future generations, it is best to adopt a precautionary approach.

Question 79

Genetic Enhancement (enhance immune system)

Answer 79

- Where gene therapy helps restore people to wholeness, genetic enhancement (GE) helps improve people beyond wholeness. - But some see GE as a treatment as well. For example, boosting the immune system through immunization against infectious disease.

Question 80

Genetic enhancement con't (unfair)

Answer 80

``` There is a concern regarding GE with respect to physical or cognitive traits. That this would give some people an unfair advantage over others with respect to competetive goods, for example, strength, beauty, and/or intelligence. Unlike gene therapy, there is no compelling medical or ethical reason to subsidize GE ```

Question 81

eugenics

Answer 81

Eugenics literally means good creation in Greek. In medicine eugenics refers to improving the human genome. But it also has negative association with Nazi Germany and the early sterilization programs in the U.S. and Canada

Question 82

eugenics - positive and negative (negatively P and G)

Answer 82

``` - Negative Eugenics: Refers to disease prevention or disease control via genetic testing and screening, PIGD, and gene therapy. - Positive Eugenics: Refers to GE. ```

Question 83

glannon - disability discrimination

Answer 83

In an era of limited budgets for education and social services…even if there is no obligation to select against embryos that would develop into “people” with disabilities, this does not mean that there is an obligation to allow these embryos to develop into “people”…

Question 84

glannon - more than our genes

Answer 84

According to Glannon: Our bodies and our minds are not completely determined by our genotype. The incomplete penetrance of genotypes makes the link between genes and most diseases a probabilistic rather than a deterministic one

Question 85

Self-replication: Stem cells (just that they replicate - that's it)

Answer 85

Stem cells renew themselves again and again, indefinitely if not forever, in lines of cellular division (unlike other somatic cells, except for cancer cells…)

Question 86

stem cells Lack of specialization: only function is to...

Answer 86

originate “daughter” specialized cells;

Question 87

stem cells - Potency

Answer 87

Can differentiate via cell division into various specialized somatic cell types. Cell potency is a cell's ability to differentiate into other cell types. The more cell types a cell can differentiate into, the greater its potency

Question 88

totipotent

Answer 88

(of an immature or stem cell) capable of giving rise to any cell type or (of a blastomere) a complete embryo.

Question 89

pluripotent (and types)

Answer 89

(of an immature or stem cell) capable of giving rise to several different cell types. a) multipotent (cells that have the capacity to self-renew by dividing and to develop into multiple specialised cell types present in a specific tissue or organ) b) adult stem cells

Question 90

unipotent

Answer 90

(of an immature or stem cell) capable of giving rise to only one cell type.

Question 91

teleology is ....

Answer 91

finalism, the why of things. opposite of teleology is chance.

Question 92

germ cells v. somatic cells

Answer 92

somatic cells are involved in building the body of multicellular animals whereas germ cells are involved in producing haploid gametes