Ideas from 'When Does a Life Begin?' by Michael Lockwood [1985], by Theme Structure

[found in 'Moral Dilemmas in Modern Medicine' (ed/tr Lockwood,Michael) [OUP 1988,0-19-286156-9]].

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25. Social Practice / F. Life Issues / 3. Abortion

4054	I may exist before I become a person, just as I exist before I become an adult

			Full Idea: It makes perfectly good sense to say that I existed before I became a person, just as I existed before I became an adult, or a philosopher.
			From: Michael Lockwood (When Does a Life Begin? [1985], p.13)
			A reaction: The word 'I' needs thought here. I was once a non-adult, but was I ever a non-person? 'Person' is not a clear concept, despite what many philosophers since Locke may think.

4055	It isn't obviously wicked to destroy a potential human being (e.g. an ununited egg and sperm)

			Full Idea: A week-old embryo without a brain may be a potential human being, but so are a sperm and an ovum that are about to meet in a dish, and it wouldn't be wicked to keep those apart.
			From: Michael Lockwood (When Does a Life Begin? [1985], p.19)
			A reaction: Sounds fine, but it may be a slippery slope. Is it acceptable to deny a place at music school to a potentially great musician?

4056	If the soul is held to leave the body at brain-death, it should arrive at the time of brain-creation

			Full Idea: Any Christian who feels that body and soul go their separate ways at brain death ought in consistency to hold that they come together only at the point when whatever is destroyed at brain death first came into being.
			From: Michael Lockwood (When Does a Life Begin? [1985], p.24)
			A reaction: Hence Christians probably focus less on brain-death than do doctors and the rest of us.