The question of when a zef becomes "a human" is entirely irrelevant for me. It is a fun question to consider, but not important to the abortion debate.
Well, I'm considering that question here, since it has become a topic of discussion. You seemed to claim that you had a definiteive answer in your response to me, so I assumed you were discussing the issue with me. Are you now saying that you weren't really discussing that topic, but instead focussing on an issue that was not being directly considered in my posts (there
are ramifications to the answer of that question for the abortion debate, but these ramifications have more to do with the logical soundness of various people's arguments instead of the actual legality/morality aspect of the debate. Whether or not the ZEF is human does not necessarily mean it is immoral to kill said ZEF. But if there is a solid demonstration that the ZEF
is human, that would mean that there are plenty of arguments made thus far which are demonstrably unsound.)
No matter what you call the entity in the womb, it is there at the pleasure of the pregnant woman and can be evicted at her displeasure.
That is irrelevent to the issue I have been discussing, though.
What characteristics "a human" must have to be considered "a human being" is a matter of opinion and will not likely be determined in my lifetime.
Actualy, it is not a matter of opinion, it is a matter of science.
If we really want to get to the nitty and gritty, being a human simply means belonging to the genus
Homo and species
sapiens. (one could make an argument that the genus is all that is needed, and in that there would be some opinion based debate, but since the other Homo species are extinct, any discussion of whether or not an extant creature would be devoid of opinion, at least until such time as a new Homo species arises).
So when the claim was made that the zygote did not display the characteristics necessary for being human, when the the
only necessary characteristics for being human are belonging to the previously named genus and (debatably) species, I asked which characteristics were not present (since I knew that all necessary characteristics
were present) in what is essentially a "trap" question.
I go after poor logic regardless of which side of the debate it is coming from. Perosnally, I think people should
always take the time to challenge people they generally agree with on an issue when that person is using poor logic because poor logic, regardless of the side it is on, is a bane to good debate.
Bait like this again and you will find yourself booted from the thread.