Thought Question #1 (Analytical, Critical Thinking Skills)
If you kill a clone of yourself, is it suicide?
posted by Joel @ 1:53 PM
Turing Test THIS!!
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2 Comments:
I vote yes. Killing ones clone is suicide. Of course, my answer entails some definitions that will make my conclusion obvious. Let us consider two cases, depending on the idea of "person."
First, "clone" could have a material definition. Although one might object to such a definition as materialist, since it reduces people strictly material beings, such an objection need not be considered now, since we will consider this in the other case. With no material difference between material things, we would have to say that the person and the clone are indeed identical. Therefore, killing the clone woulld indeed be suicide.
On the other hand, if humans are immaterial as well as material, the case gets a bit more difficult. First, we must ask what we mean by "clone." If clone is to mean "materially identical" and humans have immaterial existance, clones must be different people, so it would seem that my yes vote cannot stand up. It would seem that the whole question comes down to a cosmological question.
However, we can get around this antimony. We must evaluate the usefulness of this idea of immateriality. It seems people often point to this obscure thing called the "immaterial" in order to explain problematic aspects of our material understanding. After all, what would the "immaterial" be if humans could easily manipulate it to their wish and will? I can't fathom such a thing would retain its "immaterial" connotation. So, I propose that the idea of "immaterial" is a cop-out to the idea of cloning. A person dedicated understanding the nature of the world by investigating cloning is obviously not resigned to the idea that a perfect clone is impossible, or else the matter would not be pursued. Basically, if "material" means anything that can be manipulted to the wish and will of humans, we must assume that all things can be brought under human control if we are to avoid abject superstition. Therefore, we have to assume that that "clone" means "identical in all respects." Therefore, killing one's clone is suicide.
On the one hand no, because a clone is a separate and unique individual, just as twins are. No justice system I have ever heard of considers killing your twin to be suicide.
However, on a deeper, more meaningful level, Joel is a nerd and a very young one at that. ZING!
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