Cloning And Individuality Essay

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There are many questions surrounding the concept of cloning. Is it morally correct? Are clones the exact same? To what extent does cloning affect individuality? The last question can be assessed through a variety of different viewpoints. From a psychological viewpoint cloning can affect individuality for both the original person and the clone. When thinking about clones, you have to wonder how alike they would actually be. Does a clone think in the same way that the original thinks or is there a variation. Does raising them in a different environment affect the way they think or do they develop in the same way as their original? Critics of human cloning suggest that it can cause developmental problems related to identity formation, identification, …show more content…

Kass (1997) says that the people of society will be prone to comparing the performance of a clone to that of the original’s alter ego. Although clones would be genetically identical to their original, it doesn't mean that they will have the same experiences, therefore not having the same identity. Identity is reached through a series of stages in life (Marcia, 1966, 1980) and each stage is experienced differently by each individual during development and throughout the entire lifespan (Erikson, 1950, 1968). A clone and their original can not always be at the same exact place at the same exact time as their original. This means that a clone will have entirely different experiences which would result in the clone having another identity. One way this is shown is studies on twins. Twins are much alike clones as in the way that they are very genetically similar, but they have their own experiences. The study of Segal et al (2007) underscores the influence of non-shared factors on mental development and also underlines the importance of nonshared factors on the general development. McGee (2001) who is a critic of human cloning questions whether a clone would think of

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