Outline the main threads of thought in Preformatism.

Preformatism is the supposed existence of all the parts of an organism in rudimentary form in the egg or the seed and is inferred in the early writings of the Christian Church fathers. They made no developmental distinctions and that as the unborn child is a creation of God, to kill it (by taking drugs) was murder and this implied what we call today "personhood". This view was soon eclipsed by the teachings of Augustine in the early 5th Century AD. Since the anti-liberal "Leonine" reforms of the Leo XII 1889s, it is once again accepted by the Catholic Church.

SC

Related Philosophy A Level answers

All answers ▸

Explain each of the following: - How moral decisions are made using Rule Utilitarianism - Mill’s ideas concerning the importance of the quality of pleasure


'Utilitarianism is a good way to make moral decisions.' Discuss.


What is the difference between rationalism and empiricism?


In Kant's ethics, what is his conception of moral worth and how does it relate to duty?