surely it has to be a definate moment in time right? an exact point, like conception, or is it at birth. no obviously the baby is alive before birth, but there cannot be a gray area for the beginning of life, so when is it?
2007-12-05 15:42:23 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
i was with the doc until 'arbitrarily'
because thats realitivism, and whos to know who should decide which point to choose
i guess if we cant agree on one single point, then it just shouldnt matter and we just wont get in lifes way with things like abortion cuz we dont know when its murder
2007-12-05 16:31:15 · update #1
Since we're in the Biology section, I assume you want a Biological answer. True?
From a purely *biological* point of view (not religious), life is well on its way *before* conception.
Specifically, both a sperm cell and an egg cell (ovum) are fully alive in every sense of the word. The resulting fertilization does not produce a cell that is *biologically* any more "alive" than either of the two cells.
Or another way to put it: Just after conception, the mother has a single fertilized egg in her body, and many *unfertilized* eggs ... if you were to compare the two, there is absolutely no difference between the two except that the fertilized egg has double the number of chromosomes. The fertilized egg is no more "alive" than the unfertilized egg.
So no, there is no "definite moment in time" at which life begins.
You also wrote:
>"there cannot be a gray area for the beginning of life"
Why not?
Life is a very compex thing. At the cellular level it is very difficult to define whether a single cell is alive or not ... or whether sub-structures (like the mitochondria) are *themselves* are alive (they metabolize, they reproduce, so why not?) ... or whether smaller entities like viruses or prions are "alive".
Life is *all* about gray areas.
2007-12-06 09:22:55 · answer #1 · answered by secretsauce 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you look to various philosophies and religions, you will get a hundred different answers. To some religious groups, life begins at conception. To others, life only begins when the umbilicus is severed. You can find many positions in between. Looking to religion doesn't answer the question definitively.
If you look to science, life begins BEFORE conception because the sperm and egg are independently alive in the technical sense in a continuous chain of life - if you wish, back to Adam and Eve. So take the other approach... if Rene Descarte's statement is relevant, then life doesn't begin until several months after birth, when the baby reaches a critical stage of development such that the SELF begins to form.
If you look to non-religious philosophy, you get lost in many different viewpoints. Life, to some philosophies, is so ill-defined a concept that the question itself is meaningless.
All of which proves that we don't really know. Oh, sure, some religious leaders say point X. Others say point Y. All we can say is that with freedom of religion, and with science being no help, and non-religious philosophy being no help, the only thing left is to arbitrarily set a point and say "Life begins THEN."
The US Constitution says that the RIGHTS associated with life don't really begin until birth. (The "natural-born citizen" clause.) I don't know that this answer is any better - or worse - than any other. Because until you try to define life, you cannot define its start. And when you try to define life in a non-trivial way, you find it becomes much harder than it looks to come up with that definitive answer.
2007-12-06 00:21:33 · answer #2 · answered by The_Doc_Man 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If not before at least 500 to 600 million years before.
Plants and Trees are on earth at least for 425 million years.
Human life is very recent in comparison, 5-10 million years before.
2007-12-05 23:50:21 · answer #3 · answered by Harihara S 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
actually it is a gray area but the answer is when the organism can question things or solve a problem. This is because of one of the most famous quotes in our history.
"I think therefore I am."
-ReneDescartes
he was known as the "Father of Modern Philosophy"
2007-12-05 23:59:19 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I think that life starts at conception. Not millions and millions of years ago. I don't even think our universe is that old. Not nearly that old...yeah.
2007-12-05 23:50:41 · answer #5 · answered by applespineapple7 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
when Allah create all the things in this world..
this world is so perfect!!!
no one faultness in His creation, so life begin when He create us, but the more important thing that we have to think beside our begin of life is our DEATH... when will it happen? no one know. so we have to READY for it
2007-12-06 00:11:00 · answer #6 · answered by zZzZzZ 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋