Philosophy 2715F/G Lecture 3: week 2

• School: Western University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: Philosophy 2715F/G
• Professor: Charles Weijer

Document Summary

Importantly also encompasses animals who might be cause to suffer. Stem cells: stem cells are derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst (day 5, pluripotent: capable of forming many cell types, critical for research. Involving destroying the embryo: organ regeneration, treatment of neurological disease, spinal cord injury. If it has moral status, then it is previous develop: argue that embryos do not have moral status and therefore it is permissible to destroy them. If embryos have moral status it is because they have the potential to develop into being with uncontested moral status: stem cells derived from human embryos have the potential to develop into beings with uncontested moral status. P1: if embryos have moral status, then stem cells have moral status. P2: stem cells do not have moral status. Lee and george: the nature of an embryo is to develop into a rational agent (with moral status, all beings with a rational nature are entitled to respect.