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J Med Ethics 2005;31:56-60 doi:10.1136/jme.2004.006650
  • Reproduction

Of souls, selves, and cerebrums: a reply to Himma

  1. F J Beckwith
  1. Correspondence to:
 F J Beckwith
 J M Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies, Baylor University; Waco, Texas, USA; Francis_Beckwithbaylor.edu
  • Accepted 14 July 2004

Abstract

Ken Himma argues that a human being becomes a moral person at the commencement of brain activity. In response to Himma, the author offers (1) brief comments on Himma’s project, (2) an alternative account of the human person that maintains that a human being is a human person by nature as long as it exists, and (3) a counterexample to Himma’s position that shows it cannot account for the wrongness of the purposeful creation of anencephalic-like children. The author concludes with replies to two challenges to his position.

Footnotes

  • ↵† Lee is here citing Benedict Ashley and Albert Moraczewski: Is the biological subject of human rights present from conception? In: Cataldo P, Moraczewski A, eds. The Fetal Tissue Issue: Medical and Ethical Aspects. Braintree, MA: Pope John Center, 1994:47.

  • Please see Ken Himma’s article page 48.

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