Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Roman Law' and 'When Does a Life Begin?'

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5 ideas

21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 7. Art and Morality
Musical performance can reveal a range of virtues [Damon of Ath.]
     Full Idea: In singing and playing the lyre, a boy will be likely to reveal not only courage and moderation, but also justice.
     From: Damon (fragments/reports [c.460 BCE], B4), quoted by (who?) - where?
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 3. Punishment / a. Right to punish
No crime and no punishment without a law [Roman law]
     Full Idea: An ancient principle of Roman law states, nullum crimen et nulla poene sine lege, - there is no crime and no punishment without a law.
     From: [Roman law] (Roman Law [c.100]), quoted by A.C. Grayling - Among the Dead Cities Ch.6
     A reaction: That there is no 'punishment' without law seems the basis of civilization. Suppose a strong person imposed firm punishment in order to forestall more brutal revenge by others? What motivates the creation of criminal laws?
25. Social Practice / F. Life Issues / 3. Abortion
If the soul is held to leave the body at brain-death, it should arrive at the time of brain-creation [Lockwood]
     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.
I may exist before I become a person, just as I exist before I become an adult [Lockwood]
     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.
It isn't obviously wicked to destroy a potential human being (e.g. an ununited egg and sperm) [Lockwood]
     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?