Suyen asked:

What is personhood? What is the definition of human life? What is the value of life? Do the neonate
and infant have personhood? How about the disabled neonate and infant, are they not as valuable as
the normal neonate and infant?

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What do you mean by "as valuable as the normal neonate and infant"? We should be loyal to all
humankind by the Golden Rule. But for an employer the value of an employee is in his abilities. In our
output-driven culture there is an conflict then: People should follow the image of being strong and fit
and active and youthful, they should be winners. But then what to do with those 90% of mankind, that
definitely are not winners? Since there never will be a clear cut definition of what is a real winner, one
always has this relation of 10%: 90% winners — or maybe 1%: 99% — as you like. Therefore
socialism tried to get rid of this altogether. That's the core of stressing equality.

This conflict translates to the neonates: What do you expect them to be — lovable humans or failed
winners from the start? You can't evade that question. That's the core of the quarrel over PID
(pre-implantation-diagnostics), the question, if foetuses should be screened after conception to select
and remove those with handicaps.

There is one more large aspect to this: We live in the epoch of "reflected enlightenment". Reflected,
since the naive enlightenment has been destroyed by people like Hitler or Stalin. But even the
"reflected enlightenment" clings to the idea of improving all things using science and technology. But
why not improve men? Every teacher and coach claims to do just that. So why not improve men
using genetics and selection? There you are again at "not as valuable as the normal neonate and
infant". You never can't evade that aspect of life as a contest if you speak of "improvements".

Now you understand why the churches have been against "Enlightenment": If men don't accept good
and evil as coming from god, disabled neonate and infant as valuable as the normal ones, if
everything is looked at as "to be improved by science and technology", then the disabled are in a lost
position. You have to make up your mind on that, no philosopher will free you from that dilemma.

The other questions are (1) What is personhood? (2) What is the definition of human life? (3) What is
the value of life? (4) Do the neonate and infant have personhood?

They all have spawned meters of bookshelves already and continue doing so. Maybe I will answer to
those questions another time — or somebody else will.

Hubertus Fremerey

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