Of course, life doesn’t really begin at conception, either. Sperm and unfertilized egg cells are just as alive as fertilized egg cells are, after all. Life carries forward from one self-replicating cell to its replicant; it doesn’t emerge spontaneously from inert materials.
So does nothing interesting happen at conception? Well, that’s not true either.
What is created at conception is not life, but a unique individual, one we consider importantly different from other organisms (well, we sometimes consider the difference important).
Seen from this perspective, something interesting happens at birth, also: independent viability seems like an important part of what we mean when we call something an individual.
And seen from this perspective, something interesting also happens at some less-clearly-defined point after birth… a newborn infant isn’t viable in the same way a mature adult is.
Of course, “independent viability” for a human is pretty much always a matter of degree. Our social groups are part of our identities, and much of our viability depends on them.
Of course, life doesn’t really begin at conception, either. Sperm and unfertilized egg cells are just as alive as fertilized egg cells are, after all. Life carries forward from one self-replicating cell to its replicant; it doesn’t emerge spontaneously from inert materials.
So does nothing interesting happen at conception? Well, that’s not true either.
What is created at conception is not life, but a unique individual, one we consider importantly different from other organisms (well, we sometimes consider the difference important).
Seen from this perspective, something interesting happens at birth, also: independent viability seems like an important part of what we mean when we call something an individual.
And seen from this perspective, something interesting also happens at some less-clearly-defined point after birth… a newborn infant isn’t viable in the same way a mature adult is.
Of course, “independent viability” for a human is pretty much always a matter of degree. Our social groups are part of our identities, and much of our viability depends on them.
Individual in the sense of a separate physical object, yes. But not in the sense of an individual person.
I think it’s probably safest to taboo “person” in this context.