Family & Life

Harvard 'Expert' Challenged on Embryo Views : 19th May 08

Report of Stem Cell Research—Debate Continues. Harvard 'Experts' Views on Embryo "a Classic Example of Jumbled Thought'

Professor Vincent Twomey SVD, writing recently in "The Irish Times" pointed out that Dr Stephen Sullivan (I.T.April 25th) calls William Reville's recent article on embryonic stem cell research "a classic example of jumbled thought". In fact, it is Dr Sullivan's letter that qualifies for such a description, he noted.

He continued, "To begin with, Dr Sullivan rejects Prof Reville's contention that the life of each one of us begins at conception by countering that "life" in general began many years ago in the (mythological) "primordial soup". The "logical contradiction" here is in Dr Sullivan's mind. He is unable to distinguish between life in general and the life of any one human being in particular.

This is otherwise called fudging the issue.

Secondly, he asks the question as to whether the human embryo is a person. This is not a scientific question but a philosophical and theological question, the term "person" having its origins in theology. All science can establish is whether or not this particular embryo is human (and not some other kind of animal).

What defines our humanity - such as personhood (ie, capacity for relationship) - is a matter for philosophy and theology.

Finally, Dr Sullivan accuses Reville of not addressing the fact that without access to a womb an embryo can never become a person. This really is "a classic example of jumbled thought". The womb provides the initial environment needed for an embryo to come to term (not to "become a person"), just as the family and the wider community is the environment needed for a child to mature and express its full human potential, including the skills needed for communication, such as language, however rudimentary.

Without a womb, the incipient human being dies, just as without nourishment and care a child will die. Without a family and wider society, the child cannot mature fully as a person.

But that human potential to enter into relationship with others was there from the first moment of its existence, once it is established scientifically that the embryo is human." D. VINCENT TWOMEY SVD, Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology, Maynooth, Co Kildare. The Irish Times. May 3.

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Family & Life

Harvard 'Expert' Challenged on Embryo Views : 19th May 08

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