This Blog considers assisted suicide/euthanasia, bioethics, human cloning, biotechnology, radical environmentalism, and the dangers of animal rights/liberation. My views expressed here, as in my books and other writings, reflect my understanding that the philosophy of human exceptionalism is the bedrock of universal human rights. Or, to put it another way: human life matters. (The opinions expressed here are my own and not necessarily those of any organization with which I am affiliated.)
In this edition, I address some of the threats to human exceptionalism and a recent New York Times article that opened an unexpected new front in this ongoing conflict: Animal "ensoulment." Check it out here.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 4:48 PM
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I am a Senior Fellow in Human Rights and Bioethics at the Discovery Institute and the author of 12 books, including A Rat Is A Pig Is A Dog Is A Boy, which is relevant to the issues considered by this blog.
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3 Comments:
I just upgraded ipods so I'm trying to catch up on your podcasts. I heard a bunch dated Dec-Jan and one dated late June (the doctors and DEA enforcement).
Were there (m)any others in between?
I record them roughly every two weeks, although sometimes that schedule slips. Hit the Brave New Bioethics link on the top left and it will take you to the archive.
Thanks. WJS
So, I'm still not convinced that any of those other philosophies (personhood, Deep Ecology) are actually in opposition to human excpetionalism. They seem to me to be more about the distribution of responsibilities and rights within the species and not whether humans should have rights and responsibilities different than that of the rest of nature.
Moreover, so what? So what if human exceptionalism is threatened? Isn't it more a means to an end (i.e., an explanation of how humans are different) rather than the end itself (i.e., an idea to be worshipped)?
For the life of me, I can't see why treating other creatures better is bad.
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