| | The only point I would question in this otherwise fine essay is in the following paragraph: That tiny growth, that mass of protoplasm, exists as a part of a woman's body. It is not an independently existing, biologically formed organism, let alone a person. That which lives within the body of another can claim no right against its host. Rights belong only to individuals, not to collectives or to parts of an individual. ("Independent" does not mean self-supporting -- a child who depends on its parents for food, shelter, and clothing, has rights because it is an actual, separate human being.) [Emphasis added] This is incorrect. "Independent" does indeed mean self-supporting. Dictionary.com defines it as "not relying on another or others for aid or support." What Peikoff evidently meant to say is that Individual does not mean self-supporting."
|
|
