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Office Hours: Theophilus Flakes Out, Part 2

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"But Prof," Don was saying, "No offense to Mark, but I didn't argue the way he did. Neither did Julie. And you cut us down too."

"How did I cut you down?"

They both spoke at once. "We — "

"One at a time."

Julie made a gesture of permission. "You first," she said to Don.

"OK," he said, "I see your point about just quoting Scripture. You can't carry your point that way unless the other guy agrees with you that Scripture is the real word of God."

"Wait a second," Mark cut in. "Couldn't you make an argument for believing that Scripture is the real word of God? Not that I did that," he added sheepishly.

I answered, "Certainly you can make that argument. And you should. But timing is everything. Make it on a more appropriate occasion — for example when the topic is the possibility of divine revelation. Don't make it when the topic is embryonic stem cell research, or you'll bog down in a thousand objections. When you're having a one-on-one talk with your friend at 2 a.m., and neither of you is in a hurry, you can bring up whatever you want. When you're in class, with just a few minutes to make your case, you have to begin with premises that the other fellow already shares."

"That's what I thought I was doing," Don said. "Even today, most people vaguely think there's something special about being human. So I made a pitch for the fundamental dignity of every human being and the sacredness of every human life. I followed through, too — I remembered to show that the embryo is really human."

"I don't deny that," I said. "In fact, I'll go further: You did a good job of replying to the classmate who raised the personhood issue."

"The what issue?" asked Julie.

"The personhood issue," said Don. "He said he couldn't deny that the embryo is human —"

"That's just biology," said Mark. "It's not a dog or a porpoise."

" — Right. But then he turned around and said that it's not enough to be human to have rights. He said that only 'persons' have rights, and that not all humans are persons."

"Oh, yeah," Julie said. "I remember now. He said a human counts as a real person only if he's conscious, able to communicate, able to form and carry out purposes, and all that stuff. Embryos can't do those things."

"Right," said Don. "I thought I fielded that ball pretty well. I pointed out that by his standard, toddlers aren't 'persons' either. Or people who've had severe strokes. Or even people who happen to be sleeping. I said that the crucial thing isn't what you can do, but what kind of a being you are. Being an immature specimen of the human species doesn't rob you of your humanity — or your 'personhood.' Now what was wrong with that, Professor Theophilus?"

I smiled. "You haven't finished the story. Go on."

"But I have finished. The other guy didn't have an answer. He backed off. So even if Mark had been bashing people over the head with the Bible — sorry, Mark —"

"'S'okay."

" — even if that was what Mark had been doing, you can't say it's what I was doing, can you? You say we should start from premises that even the other guy accepts. OK, that's exactly what I did. So why shoot me down for that?"

"Ah, but I didn't shoot you down for that."

"What! Julie, Mark, you're my witnesses. Did Professor T shoot me down, or did he not?"

"He did," said Mark.

"Yeah," cried Julie.

"I didn't say that I didn't shoot you down," I answered. "I said that I didn't shoot you down for that. In fact, didn't I compliment your argument?"

"Oh, right," he said, confused. "But you criticized me too."

"Did I criticize your reasoning at the same point that I complimented it?"

"No-o-o —"

"Correct," I said. "Then when did I criticize your reasoning?"

"Later."

I laughed. "When later?"

"Um. When that girl changed the subject. Which I thought was pretty unfair. Why did you let her do that?"

"Don, Don, that's what happens in group conversations. People do change the subject. You have to be ready for it."

"But I wasn't finished talking about humanity, and dignity, and personhood, and —"

"You'd made your point. If she had tried to prevent you from making your argument about embryonic stem cell research, I would have stopped her. If someone had raised objections to your argument, and she had tried to prevent you from replying, again I would have stopped her. If she had tried to change the subject away from embryonic stem cell research, I would have stopped you. Did she do any of those things?"

"Well, no —"

"No, she didn't. You'd made your point about embryonic stem cell research; she merely wanted the same chance to make hers. Yours was about human life and dignity; hers was about compassion. It was a change of subject, but it wasn't an illegitimate change of subject."

"All right," he grouched. "But you still shot me down."

"And you still haven't told me when. Tell me what happened: She said, you said. Spell it out, just as though I hadn't been there."

"She said that people who oppose destructive research on embryonic stem cells are preventing the discovery of new wonder cures. She said that we don't have any compassion for the sick and dying."

"OK. And you said?"

"I repeated that the important thing is the dignity and infinite worth of every human being. That's when you shot me down."

"No, it isn't. How did she reply?"

"I don't remember. She didn't. Did she?"

Julie broke in. "She did, Don. She said that if you had any compassion, you'd recognize that sick and dying people have human dignity too."

"Oh, yeah. That's when I said, 'That's not the point.'"

I said "And that, Don, is when I shot you down. Not earlier."

"So you admit that you flaked out on me."

"I admit that I showed you the flaws in your argument. That's a favor. It's supposed to teach you something. Don't you see the weakness of your answer to her?"

"No."

"'That's not the point' isn't an argument. At the very least you owed her an explanation of why it's not the point. That's what I told you in class."

"But —"

"There's more, if you're willing to hear it."

He sighed. "What else do you say I said wrong?"

"It's not what you said; it's what you didn't say."

"I'm listening."

"Don't you see how much ground you conceded to your opponent?"

"No."

"By saying that compassion isn't the 'point,' you implied either that it isn't a real moral duty —"

"But that's not what I think!"

"— or that it's real, but that sometimes you have to violate one duty in order to carry out another."

"I don't — how did I — " Don stopped and started over. "Wait a sec."

"I think he's got you," said Mark. "That girl didn't deny what you said about human life. She just seemed to think that compassion was more important. You didn't deny what she said about compassion. You just seemed to think that life was more important."

"Right," said Julie. "That made the whole argument seem trivial."

Mark said, "Like a fight about which preference was better, yours or hers."

"I thought you guys were on my side," Don said, and instantly repented. "Sorry, sorry, I take that back. Actually I do sort of see. But what else could I have done?"

"Well," I answered, "Julie seemed to have the right idea. You could have done what she did."

She opened her eyes wide in surprise. "I thought you weren't on my side," she said.

"What?" asked Don. "What did she do?"

"Well, I like that!" she snorted. "Why does everyone stop listening when I start speaking? I went head to head with that other girl, that's what! Weren't you listening?"

"Yes, but —"

"Why didn't you challenge that girl about what compassion is? True compassion isn't opposed to true respect for human life and dignity. Only false compassion is."

"I don't remember you saying that," said Don.

Mark put in, "I think she means that she implied it."

"That's right," said Julie. "Don't you remember? I asked her, 'Suppose they do get one of these wonder cures they keep promising if only they get to kill embryos. How would you like to go through the rest of your life knowing that you were alive only because other human beings had been killed? How compassionate do you would be to lay that burden on someone's conscience?'"

I was pleased that the United Front was breaking up. The three of them were finally beginning to give each other the critique they needed, instead of depending on me. Two down, one to go. Just as I was thinking this, Julie swiveled her head around and said "That's when you shot me down, you turncoat."

"Not at all," I said. "That was an admirable argument. And I said so. But you're skipping a step. What happened next?"

The glitter in her eyes dwindled and disappeared. "Um." She looked at the other two. "I think that's when she said that it isn't killing humans to experiment on embryos."

"And did you answer?"

"I said that wasn't true."

"Did you explain why?"

"I tried. I pointed out that each embryo is an individual with its own unique DNA."

"What happened then?"

"She said something I didn't understand about 'totipotency' and the possibility of twinning." She looked uncomfortable. "I'm not very good at biology, Professor Theophilus."

"Don, the humanity of the embryo was your issue, wasn't it? Did you explain why?"

He shifted uncertainly in his seat. "I thought she said 'pluripotency,' and I started to answer, but she said that wasn't the same thing."

"Mark?"

"I didn't say anything at all."

"So none of you had done your homework, so to speak." No one challenged me. I looked around at them. "Do you still think I flaked out on you?"

Don glanced at the others. After a moment, he smiled wryly. "I guess we weren't doing as well as we thought we were. If we're serious about these issues, we'll have to work harder."

Mark smirked. "Are you going to embarrass us by doing up this conversation for that Web site you write for — GlueU?"

"Not GlueU, said Julie. "True Glue."

"I thought it was True Clue," said Don.

"Don't worry." I allowed myself to smile. "I never use real names."

---

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