- Anything Else -

Body, mind, and soul

Posted by: Nikhil Jaikumar ( DSA, MA, USA ) on August 06, 1999 at 12:18:21:

In Reply to: Nurturing children is denying freedom? posted by Robert on August 05, 1999 at 18:57:15:

: Nikhil, my dear chap,

: Thanks you for the kind reply.
:

: The problem with "choice" is that the victim never has any say in the matter, he or she is simply summarily executed in the abortuary. Again, the phrase "choice" is used to conceal the induced contradiction: LIFE IS DEATH.
:

This argument holds only if we're talking about abortion. the morality of abortion is a somewhat comnplex issue, which I don't want to get into right now. Suffice it to say teh following: in my view, the human beinbg has 3 attributes, body, mind, and soul. The soul "can neither be created nor destroyed" according to the Hindu holy texts, thus there is no particular point at which the "soul" comes into existence. The body coems about as teh result of a genetic combination fo elements from teh motehr and the father; from the time that these combinations are generated in the (separate) sperm and egg, there is a continuum to birth, and conception is as arbitrary a stopping point as any other. Since body and soul are no good at defining the "beginning of human life", how about the mind? The mind, in fact, only ciomes into existence when the cerebral cortex develops. (= end of 1st trimester). therefore, in my view, to define conception as teh beginning of humanity is untenable. But UI recognize that thsi si a controversial issue. let's fro teh moment rule out abortion. surely you can't think birth control is immoral (by which i mean the Pill, condoms, etc.) I mean, all you're "destroying" is individual sperm or eggs, which, for the love of God, get destroyed every day by the millions. Every act of menstruation or masturbation destroys sperm or eggs; birth control is no different.


: : 2. regardless of your own personal views on birth control, can you really deny to other people the freedom to control tehir pown lives?!

: I'll turn that around on you and ask, Why then are you trying to deny the most innocent ones of an even more basic freedom? That is their first breath.

See above. First of all, 1) p[opulation can be stabilized without resorting to abortion (i.e. the Pill and condoms) and 2) I don't recognize conception as the oment when "humanity" begins, nro do amny otehr people, it is by no means a universal acceptance.

:
: : 3. You must implicitly acept that population must stop growing at some point in the future, right? which means that average birthrates much recah 2.2? please tell me yes. You canm't really think that population can growq indefinitely? if nothing else, the size of the earth and its finite resources limit us. But not to worry, by the time we get to that stage, we'll have run out of food, water and oxygen long ago.

: Populations increase and decrease for reasons not yet fully understood by man. Some populations have become extinct over time. Some have flourished.

You're not intending that we go extinct, though, are you? Or that we turn into a pathologically overpopulated society like Lemmings?

: Perhaps your misunderstanding of populations comes from a strictly academic viewpoint. If you go out into the real world you will find that, even in India, large populations get by.

Sir, I've been to india several times. all my family is frpom there. Some of my best friends are from lareg families. I have no lack of acquaintanec with teh "real world", thank you very much. I have been to india, and I know that the people there would very much like

(sorry, I have to run, I'll copntinue this later)


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