^TagWesley J. Smith (on human exceptionalism)

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post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
October 17, 2023

Categorized
Human exceptionalism

Tagged
bioethics, Human exceptionalism, organ transplant, pigs, Wesley J. Smith (on human exceptionalism)}

Humans Are More Important Than Pigs

_{Mainstream bioethics has long sought to deconstruct human exceptionalism by claiming that species membership is irrelevant to moral worth.} _{Wesley J. Smith

October 17, 2023

4

Human exceptionalism}

The chronic shortage of organs for transplantation has some bioethicists supporting unethical curatives, such as doing away with the dead-donor rule, allowing organ procurement to be not only paired with euthanasia — already being done in Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands — but also used as a means of euthanasia, and even allowing healthy people to consent to donating their vital organs. But another potential avenue of increasing the supply of organs — xenotransplantation — is not, in my view, morally problematic in the least. The idea is to genetically alter pigs or baboons to make their organs compatible for use in human beings. This has now been done successfully for a second time in a human research subject. From the BioEdge story: A 58-year-old patient with terminal heart Read More ›

diversity and inclusion hands of peace. women uniting for social justice

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post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
August 16, 2023

Categorized
Environment, Human exceptionalism

Tagged
Anti-humanism, Canada, Environmentalism, green radical, Human exceptionalism, Slate, Wesley J. Smith (on human exceptionalism)}

Humanity is Not a Terminal Illness

_{Anti-humanism has been part of the environmentalist movement for decades} _{Wesley J. Smith

August 16, 2023

4

Environment, Human exceptionalism}

Anti-humanism has been part of the environmentalist movement for decades. For example, as far back as the 1970s, Canadian green radical David Suzuki denigrated humans as “maggots” that walk around “defecating on the planet.” When offered a chance to take that back in an interview ten years ago, Suzuki refused. Even the staid David Attenborough proclaimed us to be “a plague on the earth.” This deep misanthropy continues to spread. Now, a new book — Homo Ecophagus — argues that we are a “cancer” that will make ourselves extinct. From an interview of the author Dr. Warren Hern, in Slate: It’s not an analogy; nobody ever died from an analogy. It’s a diagnosis, and that’s different. The diagnosis is the same as the hypothesis. . . . This Read More ›

multiracial group with black african American Caucasian and Asian hands holding each other wrist in tolerance unity love and anti racism concept

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
May 22, 2022

Categorized
Environment, Ethics, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Human exceptionalism (opposition), Human rights and human exceptionalism, Jeff Sebo, Wesley J. Smith (on human exceptionalism)}

Prof: We Shouldn’t Necessarily Value Humans Over Other Animals

_{New York University environmentalism prof Jeff Sebo argues that humans are not always rational and that some animals display mental qualities so we aren’t exceptional} _{Denyse O'Leary

May 22, 2022

5

Environment, Ethics, Philosophy of Mind}

New York University environmentalism prof Jeff Sebo, co-author of Chimpanzee Rights (2018), sees human exceptionalism (the idea that there is something unique about human beings) as a danger to humans and other life forms. He does not think that we should necessarily prioritize humans over animals: Most humans take this idea of human exceptionalism for granted. And it makes sense that we do, since we benefit from the notion that we matter more than other animals. But this statement is still worth critically assessing. Can we really justify the idea that some lives carry more ethical weight than others in general, and that human lives carry more ethical weight than nonhuman lives in particular? And even if so, does it Read More ›