{"id":253411,"date":"2021-09-16T08:42:04","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T13:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=253411"},"modified":"2021-09-16T12:09:44","modified_gmt":"2021-09-16T17:09:44","slug":"expert-human-life-politics-biology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/expert-human-life-politics-biology\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Expert’ incorrectly claims question of human life really one of ‘politics, not biology’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

New human life begins at conception. In this age of scientific achievements which have taken virtually all of the <\/span>mystery<\/span><\/a> out of <\/span>human development<\/span><\/a>, it\u2019s ridiculous that it is even necessary to continue to emphasize this point.\u00a0<\/span>Unfortunately, so-called \u201cexperts\u201d driven by agenda rather than by truth continue to be platformed to propagandize, necessitating a continuous counterflow of common sense.<\/span><\/p>\n

An Expert \u2026 In Theory<\/b><\/p>\n

Sahotra Sarkar<\/span><\/a> is one such \u201cexpert.\u201d A professor of Philosophy and Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at Austin, he recently penned an article for <\/span>The Conversation<\/span><\/a> in which he claimed that the question of when human life begins is one \u201cof politics, not biology,\u201d because biology, and therefore biologists, are incapable of determining when life begins. He also claimed that there is no consensus among biologists on this issue, anyway \u2014 the implication being that their input on this matter is therefore irrelevant. <\/span><\/p>\n

Never mind the fact that he notes that he <\/span>is<\/span><\/i> a biologist immediately after making these statements, and rests the weight of his extraordinary claims upon the credibility this status implies… thereby paradoxically relying upon that which he has already undermined.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

His stated credentials will mislead many into thinking his claim carries scientific weight and validity. But what exactly is Prof. Sarkar\u2019s educational background, and what is \u201cIntegrative Biology?\u201d According to the <\/span>journal<\/span><\/a> Integrative and Comparative Biology<\/span>, the discipline emphasizes \u201cmultiple perspectives …\u00a0 to evaluate issues of biological complexity and their many dimensions, including the physical and social\u201d in \u201careas that cross standard disciplinary boundaries.\u201d Integrative Biology is also relatively new \u2014 the same journal admits the discipline didn\u2019t \u201csuddenly ha[ve] cachet and significance\u201d until 2003, and that \u201cThere are almost as many conceptions of \u2018integrative biology\u2019 as there are people interested in the idea; this results in those people considering themselves to be \u2018integrative biologists\u2019 without any clarification of or agreement upon the central themes of the concept.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, \u201cIntegrative Biology\u201d is a new term for a modern, interdisciplinary mish-mash lacking a cohesive definition, and practiced by an equally ill-defined mish-mash of individuals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Sarkar\u2019s own personal <\/span>website<\/span><\/a>, his education is primarily in mathematics, physics, and philosophy. \u201cI gravitated towards biology and its history and philosophy towards the end of my graduate education,\u201d he says. He went on to work in \u201ctheoretical biology,\u201d and, prior to his professorship in Integrative Biology, he was \u201cAssociate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Program in the History and Philosophy of Science\u201d at UTA.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is actually surprising that he is currently a professor at all, as he was recently <\/span>disciplined<\/span><\/a> and temporarily suspended by the university for alleged sexual <\/span>misconduct<\/span><\/a> and inappropriate advances toward his students.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, here we have an alleged sexual predator taking a pro-abortion position \u2014 which is <\/span>par<\/span><\/a> for the <\/span>course<\/span><\/a>, given the long <\/span>history<\/span><\/a> of connections between sexual <\/span>abuse<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>abortion<\/span><\/a>. And we have someone who is claiming to be a scientific expert \u2014 not in the hard science of biology itself, but, rather, in \u201cIntegrative Biology\u201d \u2014 with nebulous qualifications.<\/span><\/p>\n

Surprisingly, it appears he even managed to confuse himself. In the originally published version of his <\/span>opinion piece<\/span><\/a>, which has since been corrected seemingly everywhere but at <\/span>Salon.com<\/span><\/a>, he stated that if the Supreme Court declares Mississippi\u2019s 15-week abortion restriction <\/span>law<\/span><\/a> unconstitutional, it would overturn <\/span>Roe v Wade<\/span><\/i>, when the opposite is true \u2014 it would affirm <\/span>Roe<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Terminological Trickery<\/b><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s no surprise that he got his facts wrong on <\/span>Roe,<\/span><\/i> given that many of his other claims are factually inaccurate. Indeed, Sarkar\u2019s piece as a whole is a cynical exercise in semantic sleight-of-hand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

His apparent question \u2014 when does human life begin? \u2014 is euphemistic in the first place. He is not actually asking anything related to the terms \u201c<\/span>human<\/span><\/a>\u201d and \u201c<\/span>life<\/span><\/a>\u201d as defined and understood by science and the masses. This would mean that his inquiry would relate to when a new organism of the species <\/span>Homo sapiens<\/span><\/i> can be considered to have life, which, by <\/span>definition<\/span><\/a>, is \u201cmanifested by growth through metabolism, reproduction, and the power of adaptation to environment through changes originating internally.\u201d By all of these criteria, a zygote clearly qualifies as a new human life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rather, it is obvious that Sarkar\u2019s <\/span>actual<\/span><\/i> question is: \u201cWhen is it no longer okay to <\/span>kill<\/span><\/i> a new human life?\u201d That is an illegitimate question, because it is based upon the false premise that there <\/span>is ever<\/span><\/i> a time when it is okay to kill such a being.<\/span><\/p>\n

Given that Sarkar\u2019s premise is a lie, there is no necessity to dismantle his so-called \u201cargument\u201d piece by piece. There is no need to point out the paradox of his claim that biology \u2014 which, by <\/span>definition<\/span><\/a> and etymology, is \u201cthe science of life\u201d \u2014\u00a0is incapable of making the most basic determinations about its sole object of study. Rather, it is ridiculously easy, and even necessary, to simply dismiss outright this piece of \u201cexpert analysis\u201d for what it actually is: pure propaganda. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/i><\/b><\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New human life begins at conception. In this age of scientific achievements which have taken virtually all of the mystery out of human development, it\u2019s ridiculous that it is even necessary to continue to emphasize this point.\u00a0Unfortunately, so-called \u201cexperts\u201d driven by agenda rather than by truth continue to be platformed to propagandize, necessitating a continuous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":788,"featured_media":209364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[15,3],"tags":[2824,12841,2857,31,12840,435,12842],"yoast_head":"\n'Expert' incorrectly claims question of human life really one of 'politics, not biology'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A professor said the question of when human life begins is one \u201cof politics, not biology,\u201d because he believes biology cannot determine when life begins.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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