Human Embryos and Jeff McMahan's Argument for Assisted Conception

Human Embryos and Possible Persons
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Human Embryos and Possible Persons
Question 1
The current scenario involves Adam, who has a genetic disease that his child can also inherit. From the case, Derek Parfit would use the non-identity problem to explain the best option. Morally, suppose the individual is at risk of inheriting a genetic disease. In that case, the best option is to avoid having children or choose to get a different child who takes the place of the first child that Adam wanted to have (Ozturk, 2022). The different person is nonidentical but has a higher chance of surviving for longer.
According to the non-identity problem, the best option for Adam is one that will benefit everyone. The action can only be wrong if it leads to unwanted effects or harms some future or existing person. In other words, if existence is the best option and nobody's interests are at stake, then choosing to have a child is not a morally wrong decision. Parfit believes that it is best to make a decision advantageous to future generations rather than harming them. Moreover, we cannot state that delaying having a child so that they do not suffer the genetic disease is improving the person's life. The child Adam gets soon and the child he would get several years later is not the same (Ozturk, 2022). It will involve a different sperm and a different egg which creates the two offspring. By choosing to wait to have a child, Adam causes the children not to exist. The non-identity problem also posits that when making decisions that are advantageous to future generations, Adam is causing those he plans to benefit not to exist and thereby harming them instead of helping them. He has already harmed them by choosing not to have a child.
Question 2
Jeff McMahan's argument for assisted conception is that it is better to be frozen than death. Assisted conception is part of human embryonic stem cell research, which involves extracting embryos that are then killed. The argument for assisted conception is that if human embryonic stem cell research is wrong because it leads to the death of embryos, then assisted conception is also wrong since it also leads to the death of embryos (Ozturk, 2022). Embryos consist of the initial stages in the existence of...