Is life a gift or a right?

tomdemaine · #1 10-22-2005, 11:40 PM

(a) you were given life, (b) you got lucky, (c) you deserve life

No ulterior motive I'm generally interested in peoples reasoning.

#2 10-22-2005, 11:59 PM

Why would it be anything other than simply getting to be the little lucky sperm and egg that made it through gestation to allow me to become a person?

If life was a gift, who would give it? A god?

If life was a right, who would control who receives the right? And could that right be revoked? What are the conditions for obtaining this right or having it revoked?

#3 10-23-2005, 12:12 AM

saying it is lucky is not really a good way of putting it, since its an all or nothing idea. If everyone ofus is "lucky" who are the unlucky ones?

#4 10-23-2005, 01:00 AM

[ QUOTE ]
saying it is lucky is not really a good way of putting it, since its an all or nothing idea. If everyone ofus is "lucky" who are the unlucky ones?

[/ QUOTE ]

all the proto-people whose sperm weren't good enough to beat you into the egg.

SheetWise · #5 10-23-2005, 02:10 AM

What if inhabiting a body is just a different state of being? Then the question is something we could only be concerned about during the time we're in this state, and it really doesn't matter.

David Sklansky · #6 10-23-2005, 01:59 PM

"Why would it be anything other than simply getting to be the little lucky sperm and egg that made it through gestation to allow me to become a person?"

So only that combination turns into "you". Might some other combination turn into the same "you" except with freckles? The ultimate question of course, so I'll give you some time to answer it.

#7 10-23-2005, 02:32 PM

[ QUOTE ]
"Why would it be anything other than simply getting to be the little lucky sperm and egg that made it through gestation to allow me to become a person?"

So only that combination turns into "you". Might some other combination turn into the same "you" except with freckles? The ultimate question of course, so I'll give you some time to answer it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, it would be very likely that a different sperm would give me only minor physical differences, but retain the same mental capabilities. However, another sperm could carry vastly different genetic information which would in turn no longer be recognizable as what I consider "me".

Had another sperm penetrated the egg first, there may not even have been a birth. Could I have been anyone other than me? Physically, yes. Mentally, no. How much did my upbringing effect who I am? If I had a different genetic makeup, I could have had a completely different hardwiring that would change completely who I am. I would no longer be me. "I" wouldn't exist, and a stranger would be responding.

What is the probability that a percentage of the sperm would still lead to "me"? According to http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi...full/14/8/2036 the variance in sperm is quite high. So, as far as who "I" am, I consider myself extremely lucky to have come to be.

benkahuna · #8 10-23-2005, 02:48 PM

I can't really imagine it being a right. I don't particularly see why I or anyone deserves life or is entitled to anything. I say we got lucky. Make the most of it, develop an ethos and try to live in a manner consistent with that ethos.

Cyrus · #9 10-23-2005, 08:18 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Is life a gift or a right?

[/ QUOTE ]

It's more like an accident.

malorum · #10 10-24-2005, 01:02 AM

[ QUOTE ]
(a) you were given life, (b) you got lucky, (c) you deserve life

[/ QUOTE ]

From the religious perspective (Lutheran).
(a): Yup God did it.

and (b): lucky me

but not (c): You deserve to die cause Adam messed up, and you will too.

From the legal perspective:

(a) obviously.

(b)Do you feel lucky?

(c)at least in the EU theres some rule about the right to life. In the US I guess the president would ultimately veto any such right.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...7/ixworld.html