Riccardo Baschetti (Dec 15, p 2078)1 dismisses moral objections
to stem-cell research that arise solely from religion and
philosophy, not science. He argues that religious morality has
been superseded by the objective biological ethic, which is
aimed at avoiding pain and suffering. For Baschetti to pretend
that his philosophical arguments are scientific is absurd. It is
not the nature of science to be able to discover, prove, or
invent morality. Scientists do everyone a disservice when they
mislabel their philosophies as science. If the biological ethic
of avoiding pain and suffering should be embraced as the chief
governing principle, the best way to achieve these aims would be
to eliminate all human beings. Clearly, Baschetti's ethical rule
is simplistic. Other rules and goods must also be considered.
One of these, which Baschetti might also call a biological
ethic, is the need or desire to reproduce our species and
protect our offspring. Those who oppose destructive human embryo
research, Baschetti would h