Re: Identity

Michael Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Sat, 21 Nov 1998 12:59:13 -0500

John Clark wrote:

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> Michael Lorrey <retroman@together.net>
>
> >lets say you have a set of identical twins or triplets. By your
> >reasoning, since the siblings are all the same, then it should be alright to kill
> >all but one of any set of such natural clones at some point during or after
> >birth. Agree or disagree?
>
> I know from direct experience that at least some identical twins do not have
> identical personalities.

Sure, once they've grown. But right after birth? How can you tell any differences? If you cannot perform any personality or other cognitive test which establishes the the infant twins are not the same 'person' then for all intents and purposes they are the same person. Sure they will grow into different people, just as two clones will grow into different people, but at some point they are indistinguishable to science as being any different from each other. Therefore it is ok to kill one, so long as the other lives, since they are the same person.

Mike Lorrey