No there not, they simply accept that Tuvix had a right to live, and that right was taken from him against his will. Even you admit that he was definantly an indivudal with his own consciousness. So from a LEGAL point of view doesn't this individual with a consciousness have a right to live?
Janeway must have murdered lots of people and things over the course of her career, so of course she's a murder whether those kills were righteous and sanctified by Federation law or not. She was either blessed or a wussy if at that late stage in the game she was still a murder virgin. The sentient syphilis swimming about inside Tuvix was a valued life form enough to be put back where it belonged in that episode, but a couple months later and the Captain Exterminated it with extreme prejudice, despite living inside the old Vulcan PE teacher for twice as long as she'd been alive, Janeway had the moral authority to make that decision.
No, not really....that’s kinda the point....I’m not saying you have to agree with Descartes but using his definition of existence, Tuvix qualifies entirely Well exactly....for example, the thought...”i don’t want Tuvok and Neelix to be brought back...i want to continue as Tuvix”....who does that thought belong to then? In a discussion about whether or not someone exists, how is it valid to point out that he may get ill (physically or mentally) that doesn’t mean anything....Neelix may get ill...doesn’t detract from his existence being real If i take a dump and the stool has consciousness and thinks where am i...why was i hanging out of that mans anus.....then by Descartes criteria, it exists...regardless of its origins, regardless of it’s reliance on me as progenitor, regardless of it’s imminent flushing.....IT THINKS.....IT EXISTS! Mind or Brain?....you’re shifting the goal posts now and accepting that Tuvix exists but that his consciousness is borrowed. I see no evidence of that. He may have the matter of Tuvok and Neelix but his consciousness is his own....the fact that he is willing to sacrifice Tuvok and Neelix to keep it, highlights this.....and it matters not a jot that it requires Tuvok and Neelix for that new consciousness to exist Again, these goal posts are moving.....now he does exist (phew) but his existence is simplistic (like that of an animal) and therefore can be dismissed as less valid and less real. Seems to me that you’re coming around to the fact that he exists but you want his existence to be terminated without complications so he exists but only in the most basic manner My position is....Tuvix did exist as an independent consciousness but not as an independent life form. Janeway’s actions pose questions about the nature of consciousness and rights but cannot be classed as murder because the physical matter of Tuvix was not actually destroyed (only the consciousness) No jury would convict (but some philosophers might.....and that’s enough for the question to hang over this episode and for there to be no definite right answer....i’m not asking you to change your view, just to accept that there may be some grey area here)
So, do we get to poke at the bits sticking out just to watch them wiggle? Then by all means, Tuvix must live! Let the poking begin!
In what manner are you desperate to prove he exists? Physically he is just Neelix and Tuvok. Mentally he only SEEMS to perhaps have his own thoughts. It does not necessarily make it so. Im dismissing his survival desire which is the most basic animalistic function. He does not really exist, he never did. Two people have been forced together so he 'seems' different but in reality...he is not. He is just two people. As I said, we have no clue what is actually going on in the head, what he knows, what he thinks, what he hears. All we know is he wants to live. Because being dematerialzed and split in half is likely to be a bit scary. If the physical matter of Tuvix was not destroyed, then why can you not make the leap to see that his mental self was not destroyed either? I acknowledge that his mind is dependent on this fusion but EVERYTHING that it is composed of is simply Neelix and Tuvok. There is no third person, the way this 'third' being is expressing itself may SEEM like a third person but the only physical and mental matter it has belong to Tuvok and Neelix. The joy of this argument, of course, and the beauty of the episode is how grey an area and how open to interpretation it truly is.
As said: The number of posters de facto advocating as moral the cold-blooded killing of a person in order to chop him/her up for spare organs - against his/her express wishes - for the purpose of using these organs to save 2 persons from deep coma is shockingly high. Tuvix is not a sapient, intelligent being now? What non-sense. The episode went to some length to establish Tuvix as a sapient, intelligent person; his own being, separate from both Tuvok or Neelix.
But i don’t accept that it’s basic....i don’t see him as irrationally grasping at survival. He makes a reasoned argument for his existence. He demonstrates thought and emotion. His decision would lead to the death of Tuvok and Neelix which neither of them would want (and in doing so proves that his consciousness is separate from theirs) Because we can define matter scientifically....but we can only define consciousness from a philosophical perspective and so it's more complex, abstract, murky But that doesn’t explain his willingness to sacrifice Tuvok and Neelix. The idea that it’s from some simple survival instinct doesn’t work either. Firstly because of the reasons above and secondly because after he has made his “thoughtful” and reasoned argument, he then accepts his fate. True survival instinct would have him punching people, running down corridors, grappling with security, kicking and screaming until the last....but instead he accepts (with a reasoned mind) that his voice will go unheard For me the deciding factor in accepting he is a separate consciousness is his willingness to sacrifice Tuvok and Neelix to keep it. The only way i would be willing to entertain the possibility that Tuvix did not possess unique consciousness (and was simply two minds combined) is if you accept that some part of Tuvok or Neelix (or both) secretly wanted to remain as Tuvix But which one?
This is where your argument falls apart, the only argument you can make using Legality is conjecture on your part. You don't know what is legal or not in Janeway's situation or time for that matter. You assume it is a problem, some of us assume that it is not a problem. The evidence on our side is that Janeway got home and a couple of years later we see her promoted in rank. Where is your evidence? Ethics is one argument but legality is a completely different argument and you have no base in canon to make that argument. Canon it would seem supports Janeway's decision. Edited to add Since I have already stated that in the US organ donation is illegal without the consent of the donor or a qualified representative of the donor. I thought it might be nice to know what is legal in Great Britain for MacLeod's basis for Legality
Tuvix is a real person but he does not own his own organs. Neelix and Tuvok do. What he has are squatters rights.
Are you arguing that an individual has no rights in the UFP? And you have no basis in canon to refute my claims. But conjecture from what limited amount of the UFP Legal system we have seen would at least seem to support than an individual has the rights of freedom and self-determination. How about this line from BOBW Picard: Impossible. My culture is based on freedom and self-determination. So wasn't Tuvix exercsing his right of self-determination? What about "Measure of Man" in part that was about does Data have the right of self-determination.
If this moral imperative was so important, then Kathryn should have gone and ahabbed for Neelix's lungs that were stolen by the Vidiaans in season one and got them back... And further more when Neelix and Kes broke up, she could have asked for her lung back from Neelix which she donated. How did THE Vidiaan organ black market work any way? Did the recipients know that they were harvested from the uniwilling and murdered, or did they believe a bunch of lies to keep their peace of mind? If the recipient doiesn't know that they (two lungs, two recipients?) have to hide, Voyager might have been able to find them with ships sensors scanning Vidia from orbit. But this is a point that Tuvix should have brought up about how Janeway usually doesn't care whear his organs wind up deposited, hell Tuvix could have made a ruckus and demanded they turn the ship around right now to go get them, since why should have have to die to make an inferior version of Neelix that 's only up to 90 percent of specifications?
NOT bringing back Tuvok and Neelix is equivalent to withholding necessary medical attention from them. They were NOT dead--obviously. I'm not saying that what was done to Tuvix wasn't murder, but I AM saying that not bringing back Tuvok and Neelix would ALSO have been murder. There really is no good moral/ethical equation to work this out. The moral, of course, is to never get in the fershlugginer transporter! Ever!
I disagree that not brining back Tuvok and Neelix would have been murder. Murder generally requires you do an act which results in the death of another person. If you do nothing (unless you had a duty of care i.e. a Doctor) than you can't be held liable for murder. Now you could posisble argue that as Captain Janeway had a duty of care to those under her command, but once again Starfleet does act as the military force of the UFP and in a military sometimes people die. Secondly Tuvix was a civiliian and one of the duties of Starfleet is to protect the lives of civilians even at the cost of their own lives. Yes Neelix was a civilian also but he accepted the risks by signing up to serve onboard Voyager. Now if Tuvix had gone through the transporter and it had sperated him back into Neelix and Tuvok without any action by Janeway then it's not murder. By forcing him to undergo a medical proecudre against his will performed by Janeway which resulted in the termination of his existance then it's murder. Tuvok was duty bound to relenquish his life to safe the life of a civilian. The fact that this civilian was born out of a transporter accident doesn't diminish that fact.
Tuvok believed in suicide (Deathwish) therefore Tuvix Believed in suicide, therefor it wasn't such a big ask.
Maybe that's why Neelix couldn't get past the bouncer into the enchanted Forest in Mortal Coil? Tuvix stole his place! Vulcan's don't die any more? (Barring accidents and surprises.) They just shove their minds into other people or soulbanks. Suicide must be an easy way out if on the other side of this, you're going to be stuck into a new young firm fit body? Or possibly old people might chose to really, really die, die, leaving a hollow vessel behind that Vulcan's who actually want to live can use and meld into?