The controversy of conception animation: an unsolvable dispute? Critical evaluation of selected concepts of human embryo animation

Abstract

The controversy over the animation (personalisation) of the human embryo is nowadays becoming a particularly pressing theological issue due to the widespread methods of in vitro fertilisation whose adequate ethical evaluation requires a clear definition of the ontological and anthropological status of the human being in the early stages of embryogenesis. The starting point for the ontological analyses is the empirical case of monozygotic twins. The paper provides a critical assessment of the concept of delayed animation developed in the neo-Thomistic tradition (T. Ślipko). The main models of arguments for simultaneous animation developed by leading Polish bioethics are presented. An own model of argumentation justifying animation at conception is also presented. This model ascertains twinness of the zygote from the conception and refers by analogy to the case of inseparable Siamese twins.