title: The argument from potentiality in the embryo protection debate: finally "depotentialized"?
abstract: Debates on the moral status of human embryos have been highly and continuously controversial. For many, these controversies have turned into a fruitless scholastical endeavor. However, recent developments and insights in cellular biology have cast further doubt on one of the core points of dissent: the argument from potentiality. In this article we want to show in a nonscholastical way why this argument cannot possibly survive. Getting once more into the intricacies of status debates is a must in our eyes. Not merely intellectual coherence but the standing and self-understanding of current stem cell research might profit from finally taking leave of the argument from potentiality.
authors: University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.
authors: Marco
authors: M
authors: Stier
authors: Bettina
authors: B
authors: Schoene-Seifert
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D033421:Beginning of Human Life / Q000941:ethics*; D034462:Dissent and Disputes; D033041:Embryo Research / Q000941:ethics*; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D048788:Growth and Development; D006801:Humans; D057026:Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells; D028681:Moral Obligations; D028723:Personhood; D057891:Tetraploidy; D026712:Value of Life