Ethics 8th Edition by Barbara MacKinnon,Andrew Fiala

Exercise 1

Human Cloning. Victor and Jenny have one son, Alan, who was hit by a car at age four and then lapsed into a coma. The prognosis is bleak for Alan, but Jenny cannot bear to see him die and so they have kept him on life support. Victor has heard that scientists working at a secret lab have been successfully cloning human beings. Victor suggests that they contact the scientists to see if they can clone Alan-using Alan's DNA to grow a new baby, which would be a genetic copy of him. Jenny is appalled at this idea. "But it wouldn't be Alan. It would be a totally different person." But Victor suggests that the clone would be very similar. "The new baby would be created to honor Alan. Of course it wouldn't literally be him. But we could honor Alan's memory and keep Alan's unique genetic gifts alive by cloning him."
What do you think? To what extent would a clone be the same person as the original? Would it be unethical to clone Alan? Why or why not?