Is this an unanswerable question?

Question

Isn't the claim that life begins at conception similar to the "chicken and the egg" query, meaning it is a metaphysical concept with no real concrete answer? How could one verify this concept?

Answer 1

To say life begins at any other point is arbitrary. We can say that life begins when a embryo becomes viable but this changes according to medical technology and is thus unreliable.

As for "the chicken or the egg" this is quite easy: The answer depends on your viewpoint. Creationists will say the chicken because God created the chicken and it laid eggs. An evolutionist will claim the egg and that it was laid by the chickens common ancestor (the being that the chicken "evolved" from).

Answer 2

Sorry...but the chicken and the egg problem has been solved. The egg technically is first because evolution can only take place before birth. Chickens evolved from a different species of bird so the evolution in the DNA had to take place in the egg thus the egg is first :-)

Answer 3

Yes. I think it's unanswerable.

I'm just a human, I can't be expected to know these things.

Answer 4

nobody really knows.

Answer 5

When did you begin? 3r, 4th, 5th month? When you had toes and fingers or was it when you had eye lids?

Isn't it safe to assume that you began when you were conceived?

Answer 6

No, it is not unanswerable, for, conception leads to a new human life unless the baby is naturally aborted, of course.

Answer 7

You are correct, it call comes down to a matter of opinion in the long run, either it begins at conception or it doesn't

Which is why i laugh when people try to use "evidence" to support thier beleif in abortion, especialy "Look in any science text book, it says fetis not baby!"

Answer 8

Didn't life begin with the first amoeba?  

Answer 9

Uh no.

Answer 10

I would argue that life starts even before conception.

The sperm and the ova are indeed living. When joined it causes a mutation.

So if anything the argument should be , at how far an advanced stage of mutation is it a complete ,viable human.

Answer 11

That answer usually begins with "From a religious perspective . . ." or "Medically speaking . . ." It all depends on which authority you care about more.

Answer 12

My answer would be life begins when Genomic imprinting happens.

Answer 13

When cells begin to multiple, there is life. Even though the cells don't form a being that resembles a human, there is cellular growth of human coded cells.  

Answer 14

I'm going to say when the fetus has a soul.   Now, since I'm not a god I don't know when that is....  Since I'm OK being a human, I don't NEED to second guess when that is.   So, although I am sure there is a concrete answer, I am also certain I will not know that answer.  That being said I am going to follow the crowd and say, "It's your personal belief."

Answer 15

Life comes and goes, time is infinite; perspective changes, morality and ones definition of ethics. There is no basic foundation, there is just us toiling along. The chicken the egg, neither came first the ediacaran did. We are all just multicellular eukaryotes, we were bacteria Proterozoic, endosymbiosis and for that we should be thankful that evolution took over such beings exists; do you all realise free-living aerobic bacteria divide independently of the cell by binary fission!!! Bacteria has us outdone, they will eventually wipe us out they grow and develop at a faster rate than we can ever imagine.

Answer 16

yes

where does life begin?

answer: it doesn't matter, or perhaps it beings when the being becomes conscious of its existence, becoz untill then it does not know whether its alive or dead, so it would not matter, why am I talking to myself.

Answer 17

Life begins when the mother gets pregnant. That is a living forming human in her, which has life, and deserves to live.

Answer 18

The sperm was a living organism, so was the egg. You're talking about a complicated sentient life-form. As the brain matures, the organism becomes self-aware. As a monist I don't believe in a duality of spirit and body--so for me intellegent life is defined by being self-aware.  

Answer 19

If tissue is growing it's alive in one form or another.  

Answer 20

it's unanswerable because it's based on what you believe.  

Answer 21

life for anything that moves, requires a heart and the muscles to keep it moving.  life to my way of thinking, begins when a heart begins to beat.