Stem Cell Research and the Problem of Embryonic Identity

The Journal of Ethics 15 (4):307-319 (2011)
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Abstract

A basic component of moral objections to embryonic stem cell research is the claim that human embryos have the same moral status as typical adult human beings. There is no reason to accept this claim, however, unless adult humans once existed as embryos—that is, unless the developmental history of adult humans contains embryos to which the adults are numerically identical. The purpose of this paper is to argue that there are no such identities, and hence that no adult human being ever existed as an embryo.

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Citations of this work

The Constitution of the Human Embryo as Substantial Change.David Alvargonzález - 2016 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 41 (2):172-191.

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References found in this work

Was I ever a fetus?Eric T. Olson - 1997 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 57 (1):95-110.
Was I Ever a Fetus?Eric T. Olson - 1997 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 57 (1):95-110.
Killing embryos for stem cell research.Jeff Mcmahan - 2007 - Metaphilosophy 38 (2-3):170–189.
Four Queries Concerning the Metaphysics of Early Human Embryogenesis.A. A. Howsepian - 2008 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 33 (2):140-157.
Twinning, Substance, and Identity through Time.Stephen Napier - 2008 - The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 8 (2):255-264.

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