Ryan Anderson: Scanning for Life
Those who hold that the life of a human being does not possess full moral worth in virtue of what he is, but instead, in virtue of the development of natural capacities, pull the rug out from under the principled argument for human equality. For the proposition that all humans are equal wasn't the result of a misguided survey of the developed abilities of humanity in general. Those who defend the principle of equality are fully aware of the inequality of human talents, abilities, and developed capacities. This is not the equality of which they speak. Rather, they point to an underlying moral equality--an equality of status that arises from the fact that all human beings are equally human, and fully human, regardless of the degree to which they have developed their basic, natural capacities. That is, they are valuable as subjects of rights and they have full moral worth simply in virtue of what they are--beings that have a rational nature, even if they have not yet developed their rationality, or its functioning has waned. They are intrinsically valuable, regardless of their immediately exercisable capabilities.
The defense of Korean wannabe cloner Hwang Woo-Suk began today.
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