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SANCTIFIEDINTHEWOMB:
PRENATALCONSCIOUSNESS
byJosephKenny,O.P.
forWorldDayofPhilosophy,NnamdiAzikweUniversity,Awka
14November2011

FromAristotletoourday,thedebatehasgoneon.Whatorganicbasisisrequiredforthe
beginning of human life, for conscious activity, for lower or higher levels of conscious
activity?Canthisbeputinatimeframe?
Manyopinionshavebeenaired.As an introduction, I briefly review the major ones, then
assess them. Then I pass to the focus of this paper, combining current physiological
evidencewithmetaphysicalprinciplessuppliedbyThomasAquinas,toconcludewhatwe
canregardingconsciousnessoftheunborn.
Themajoropinions
(1) Preexistant human souls are joined at some point to the conceived
organism
ThisopiniongoesbacktoPlato(Timaeus44d47e).SomeChristianthinkers,notably
Origen,aresaidtohavesupportedit.
Some African traditions go in the same direction, particularly the idea of
reincarnation,ifwetakeitliterally.
(2) Human life begins with the male seed, collectively created in Adam, and
emerginginhisdescendants
ThisisanancientSemiticbelief,echoingintheBibleandintheQur'n.1Corinthians
says:"AlldieinAdam"(15:22).TheLettertotheHebrewssays:"Itcouldbesaidthat
Levi himself, who receives tithes, actually paid tithes, in the person of Abraham,
because he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek came to meet
him"(7:10).
TheQur'n(2:223)presentsthemotherasmerelythe"field"inwhichthefathersows
hisseed.Inlinewiththisview,theQur'n(7:172)describesthewholehumanraceas
actually present in the body of Adam, where they all made a pact with God. Ibn
Hishm (1:157) presents Muhammad as the first creation of God, who passed as
lightfromAdamdownthemalelineto`Abdallh,whodepositeditinmina.
(3)Delayedhominizationinthewomb
Aristotle holds that the semen and the egg have nutritive souls, just as much as
plantsdo.But,asAristotle'sfollowersunderstoodhim,thesensitivesoulcomeslater,
and still later the intellective soul. I do not think Aristotle's Greek text supports that
theorytranslations often confuse (female egg) with "embryo". Nevertheless,
delayedreceptionwastheprevalentinterpretationintheMiddleAges.[1]
ThomasAquinaselaboratesanddefendsthispositioninContraGentiles,II,q.58,n.
4,andinq.89.Hearguesfromthepositionthat,atconception,thefetusdoesnot
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havesufficientorganicdifferentiationtosupportasensitive,muchlessanintellective
soul.
Howlongdoesthisdevelopmenttake?
Aristotle: De historia animalium, Book 7, ch. 3 (583b, 25): In the case of male
children the first movement usually occurs on the righthand side of the womb and
about the fortieth day, but if the child be a female then on the lefthand side and
abouttheninetiethday.
LecturingontheSentencesofPeterLombard(III,d.3,q.5,a.2),ThomasAquinas
quotes Augustine's reference to this text, who misinterprets "movement" as
"quickening",orthemomentthefetusbecomeshuman.Thomas does not question
this, except to say that it does not apply to the conception of Christ a position he
repeatsinSummatheologiae,III,q.33,a.2,arg.3.
The basis of Aristotle's and Aquinas' position is the principle, "Potency must
correspond to act." That fundamental principle runs through Aristotle's works on
physicalscience,andisenshrinedinhisMetaphysics.Teacherssometimesillustrate
itbytheaphorism:"Youcan'tmakeasilkpurseoutofasow'sear."
Aristotle's defined the soul (which we can translate as "life") as "the first act of an
organicbody".The body must have the organic complexity required by the type of
soul or life: Nutritive life requires the least sensitive life requires more and
intellectivelifestillmore.
Because Aristotelians and Aquinas could not see this required complexity, they
concludedthatthehumansoulwasinfusedlater.
Aristotleusesthesameargumenttoshowwhyaresomepeoplemoreintelligentthan
others: "A sign of this is that within the human race, men are gifted or not
intellectually in virtue of this sense [of touch], and of no other. For coarsebodied
peoplearementallyinert,whilstthetenderlyfleshedarequickofunderstanding."[2]
Islamic Hadith, and influential classical Qur'an commentaries agree with Aristotle's
delayed hominization. For example, AlQurub, on Q 22:5, says that the (rational)
spiritisbreathedinonlyattheonehundredtwentiethday(i.e.,fourmonths).
(4)Hominizationwithconception
This, of course, is the position of prolife movement at the present time. It is not a
newposition,butgoesbacktoIbnSn(Avicenna).HeknewAristotle,andwrotehis
ashShif',coveringallbranchesofknowledge,inparalleltotheAristoteliancorpus.
It was not a commentary, like those of the later IbnRushd (Averroes) and Thomas
Aquinas,butanoriginalbook,writtenwithreferencetoAristotle.
He takes up the question of fetus development in chapter 16 of his 8th book of
NaturalScience,entitledAnimals().Ihavepublishedadetailedstudyofthis
elsewhere,[3] and here give only a summary. IbnSn argues that an individual
cannot mutate, midstream, from one species to another. It is what it is right from
conception. Its powers are there from the start, but cannot act until their required
organsdevelopsufficiently.
IbnSn had no microscope. Yet he did conduct empirical observation, and in
chapter9,section5,givesthefollowingsequenceforthedevelopmentofanembryo,
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withallowanceforvariance:
Thefoamyperiod:

6days

Redlinesandpoints:

day9

Bloodthroughout:

day15

Fleshanddistinctionofthethreeorgans[heart,brain,liver]:

day27

Theheadandlimbsdistinct:

day36

Allorgansclearlydistinct:

day40

SincedoingmystudyofIbnSn,IdiscoveredthatAlberttheGreatagreesexactly
withIbnSnonthisquestion.[4]
Evaluation
1.Aristotle does not consider the first theory, that of preexistent souls. In The
generation of animals, he discusses human generation from a purely
physiologicalstandpoint.InhisDeanima,heaffirms,withregardtotheagent
intellect, that it is "separable, uncompounded... immortal and incorruptible"
(Book III, ch. 5). Aristotle does not explain, as Aquinas does, how the agent
intellect(whichabstractstheintelligiblecontentofsensedata)andthepassive
intellect (which "knows") are both powers of an immortal soul. In The
generationofanimals,ch.16,Aristotlesaysthatsuchasoulmustcome"from
without"().
Christian and most Muslim philosophers reject the hypothesis of preexistent
humansouls.Forexample,IbnSnexplicitlydeniesthatthehumansoulhas
anyexistencebeforethebody.[5]AsaPlatonictheory,ithaslittleresonancein
popular religious milieux, except for certain esoteric Sf or Sh`a circles (as
canbeseenbyaGooglesearchinEnglishorArabic).
2.As for the second theory, that the male seed is the complete child, Aristotle,
followedbyhisGreekandmedievalcommentators,rejectsitaltogether.[6]Ibn
SnfollowsAristotle'sreasoningthatthemaleseedcanhavenomorethana
transientlife,andbecomeshumanonlyafteractingonitsfemalecounterpart.
HegoesbeyondAristotleininsistingthatbothparentscontributetothemakeup
ofthechild,shownbythefactthattheyresembleboth.
Nonetheless,itattractsmanyMuslims,firstbecauseofitsconsonancewiththe
Qur'nversescitedabove,andsecondlybecauseittreatsAdam'sdescendants
as whole units, body and soul together, unlike the disembodied souls of
Platonictradition.
3.Thethirdtheory,ofdelayedhominization,conflictswiththeQur'nimagerythat
thefathertransmitsoneofAdam'spreexistentdescendantsintothewombof
hiswife.
Another passage, Qur'n 23:1314 might seem to support delayed
hominization:
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:(23)

()

()

()

Wecreatedmanfromaslipofmud,thenwecreatedhimadropina
stablerepository.Thenwemadethedropanattachment.Thenwe
made the attachment a lump. Then we made the lump into bones
which we clothed with flesh. Then we made him another creation.
BlessedbeGod,thebestCreator.
AlQurub accommodates this passage to argue for delayed hominization.
Others, such as Fakhr addn arRz, do not support alQurub's
interpretation.
Where the Qur'n admits of diverse interpretations, Muslims are free to
disagree. Nevertheless, the fatwas of religious leaders and the opinions of
scholarscarryconsiderableweight.
We can take Aida I. Al Aqeel as an example. She is a Senior Consultant
Paediatric Medical Geneticist and Endocrinologist at King Faisal Specialist
Hospital and Research Centre, with an intimidating C.V.[7] Rather than
physiological evidence, she cites a Hadith (in Bukhari[8]) to say: "Human life
beginsatthetimeofensoulment,whichisstated...tobeat120thdayfromthe
momentofconception,whichisequivalentto134daysfromthelastmenstrual
period (LMP) used by obstetricians. Prior to that moment the embryo has
sanctity,butnotreachingthatofafullhumanbeing."
Yet no one today offers scientific or philosophical evidence for a change of
speciesinthedevelopmentofazygote.Weseeanegghatchintoacaterpillar,
whichthenturnsintoapupa,andfinallyabutterfly.Itisthesameindividual,the
same species, with the same genetic material throughout. Every detail of the
adultisalreadymappedoutinthefertilizedegg.
Evenmanyabortionsupportersagreethatthezygoteislivingandhuman,but
only a "potential person", simply because it is not "conscious", and not
"physicallyindependent".[9]
4.Thatleavesuswiththefourthoption,hominizationwithconception.Thezygote,
accordingtothedefinitionofBoethius,isaperson,"anindividualsubstanceof
rational nature". IbnSn, as well as the modern proponents of hominization
with conception, see the zygote as endowed with all its powers, nutrient,
sensitive and rational, although there is a delay in the awakening of the
sensitive and intellective powers, because the sense organs, which even the
intellectmustreferto,arenotdeveloped.
Taking this fourth option as established, I go on to discuss the main issue of
thispaper,"Howearlycanprenatalconsciousnessbe?"
Prenatalconsciousness:around20daysfromconception?
Itakeconsciousnessasmeaningtheintellect'sactofknowing.Itresultsinhabitual
knowledge,butwedonotsaythatsomeoneasleepisconscious.Anyonewhohas
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hadexperiencewithinfantsrecognizesthattheyknowalot,wellbeforetheylearnto
talk,orunderstandwhatyousay.
Therearetwoprinciplescontrollingthedevelopmentofintellectualknowledge:
1.Thereisnothingintheintellectwhichisnotfirstinthesenses.
2.Knowledgeprogressesfromwhatisgeneralandimperfecttothespecificand
moreperfect.
Ourfirstconclusionmustbe:Prenatalconsciousnesscannotprecedefirstsensation.
When, then, does sensation begin? Sensation, we are told, requires a nervous
system.Wearealsotoldthatbythe20thdaythefoundationofthenervoussystemis
laid.[10]
Amongthesenses,thesenseoftouchisthemostbasicandthefirsttodevelop,in
anyofitsvariantforms:senseofpressure,oftemperatureetc.
Our second conclusion can be: As soon as the unborn child receives its first
sensation,theintellectisreadytoact.
We then ask, what can the intellect know from one primitive sensation? Thomas
Aquinasexplains:
Nowthedivisionwhichisimpliedinthenotionofthatkindofunitywhich
is interchangeable with being is not the division of continuous quantity,
which is understood prior to that kind of unity which is the basis of
number,butisthedivisionwhichiscausedbycontradiction,inasmuchas
twoparticularbeingsaresaidtobedividedbyreasonofthefactthatthis
beingisnotthatbeing.Thereforewhatwefirstunderstandisbeing, and
thendivision,andnextunity,whichistheprivationofdivision,andlastly
multitude,whichisacompositeofunits.[11]
Sothebaby'sfirstconceptisthatof"being",yesphysicalbeing,initsmostgeneral,
mostimperfectsense.IntheopeningchapterofhisPhysics,Aristotleexplains:
The natural way of doing this is to start from the things which are more
knowableandobvioustousandproceedtowardsthosewhichareclearer
and more knowable by nature for the same things are not 'knowable
relatively to us' and 'knowable' without qualification. So in the present
inquiry we must follow this method and advance from what is more
obscurebynature,butclearertous,towardswhatismoreclearandmore
knowablebynature.Nowwhatistousplainandobviousatfirstisrather
confusedmasses,theelementsandprinciplesofwhichbecomeknownto
us later by analysis. Thus we must advance from generalities to
particulars... Similarly a child begins by calling all men 'father', and all
women'mother',butlaterondistinguisheseachofthem.
Commentingonthesamepassage,ThomasAquinassays:
That universals are confused is clear. For universals contain in
themselves their species in potency. And whoever knows something in
the universal knows it indistinctly. The knowledge, however, becomes
distinct when each of the things which are contained in potency in the
universal is known in act. For he who knows animal does not know the
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rationalexceptinpotency.Thusknowingsomethinginpotencyispriorto
knowingitinact.Therefore,accordingtothisorderoflearning,inwhich
weproceedfrompotencytoact,weknowanimalbeforeweknowman.
Concretely, the first object of the baby's sensation is the mother's womb, at the
source of its nourishment. The baby, thus, gets a concept of being, being which is
convertible with good, a very concrete and lovable good, in the baby's experience.
OnlywellafterbirthwillheknowandclingtoMother,asdistinctfromeveryoneand
everythingelse.
Next, the baby realizes that this good being is another being, distinct from himself.
They are two beings. And maybe there is something beyond the two, an ultimate
Being,andultimateGood.Howisthatpossible?
ThomasAquinas,likesomanybeforeandafterhim,thoughtthattheuseofreason
comesroughlyaroundtheageofseven.Inthis,hewouldbefollowingthecanonical
authority,Gratian.
Inadiscussionaboutsin,Thomasraiseswhatseemsanoddquestion:"Canthefirst
actofanunbaptizedchildreachingtheuseofreasonbeavenialsin?"Heanswers:
Ianswerthat,Itisimpossibleforvenialsintobeinanyonewithoriginal
sinalone,andwithoutmortalsin.Thereasonforthisisbecausebeforea
mancomestotheageofdiscretion,thelackofyearshinderstheuseof
reason and excuses him from mortal sin, wherefore, much more does it
excusehimfromvenialsin,ifhedoesanythingwhichissuchgenerically.
Butwhenhebeginstohavetheuseofreason,heisnotentirelyexcused
fromtheguiltofvenialormortalsin.Nowthefirstthingthatoccurstoa
man to think about then, is to deliberate about himself. And if he then
direct himself to the due end, he will, by means of grace, receive the
remissionoforiginalsin:whereasifhedoesnotthendirecthimselftothe
dueend,andasfarasheiscapableofdiscretionatthatparticularage,
hewillsinmortally,forthroughnotdoingthatwhichisinhispowertodo...
[12]
This passage presupposes that the child can grasp, without scientific reasoning, in
anintuitivemanner,thatthephysicalgoodofhisenvironmentisalimited,contingent
participationinanabsolute
Good.Heisnaturallycapableofrecognizingthat,andhiswillmovedbygrace,as
theologyinsistsiscapableofchoosingthatend.
Theprocessisparalleltothatoftheangels,whichThomasdiscussesintheprevious
article, whose intelligence guides them from themselves straight to their Creator.
Then, their very first act of will either wins them the vision of God or puts them in
perpetualsin.[13]
Relevant also is his reference to "implicit faith", an imperfect kind of knowledge,
whichhoweverissufficientforconnectingwiththeCreatorandhisplanofsalvation.
Many of the gentiles received revelation of Christ... If, however, some
weresavedwithoutreceivinganyrevelation,theywerenotsavedwithout
faithinamediator,for,thoughtheydidnotbelieveinHimexplicitly,they
did, nevertheless, have implicit faith through believing in Divine
providence, since they believed that God would deliver mankind in
whateverwaywaspleasingtoHim,andaccordingtotherevelationofthe
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Spiritofthosewhoknewthetruth,asstatedinJob35:11:"Whoteaches
usmorethanthebeastsoftheearth."[14]
Canwepushbackthedateofconsciousness?
The key to consciousness is sensation. The intellect cannot operate without
reference to a sensory image. We noted the scientific consensus that the nervous
system is the basis of sensation. Yet two other considerations raise an additional
hypothesis.
First, there are some primitive organisms, recognized as animals (and therefore
sensory), which do not have a nervous system, for instance the sponge,[15] or the
Placozoan.[16]Ipassoverbacteria,whicharenotuniversallyrecognizedasanimals.
In all of these, we hear of "electrical signals" or "biochemical reactions, such as
electrontransportacrossthecellmembrane".
What does this amount to? Does it enable these primitive animals to sense
approaching food? Is there any parallel primitive sensation in the human zygote?
Furtherscientificresearchshouldinvestigatethis.
Secondly, although there is no developed nervous system at conception, its details
areallmappedout,andthemechanismforitsdevelopmentispresent.Activitywithin
the minute structure of a zygote must be very difficult to observe. Does its
implantationinvolvesensation?Thatisanareaforfurtherresearch.
Inthemeantime,wemightturntoThomasAquinas'defenseofthefullhumanityof
Christ right from conception unlike the delayed hominization he held for everyone
else. For him, the "small quantity" of matter was disposed, by divine power, to
receiveahumansoulrightfromthestart.[17]Ithadallthedifferentiationnecessary
notonlyforanintellectivesoul,butalsoforsensitiveandintellectiveaction.
Iwouldliketothinkthat,asThomaswaswronginexcludingahumansoulfromthe
rest of humanity at conception, he was also wrong in excluding from them the
exerciseofitssensitiveandintellectivepowersfromthestart.
Thatismyhypothesis.Onlyempiricalinvestigationcanbearitout.
[1]Degenerationeanimalium,Book2,ch.36.
[2]Deanima,II,ch.9421a24.SeeThomasAquinas'Commentary,#483.
[3]"IbnSnandtheoriginofhumanlife,"inIslam,culturaltransformation,andthe
reemergenceoffalsafah.StudieshonoringProfessorGeorgeFrancisMcLeanonhis
eightiethbirthday, ed. Karim Douglas Crow (Tehran: Iranian Institute of Philosophy,
1999), pp. 115. IbnSn discusses human conception and gestation also in his
Qnnfibb,BookIII,treatise21,article2,butsaysnothingnew,andonlyrefersto
hisworksonnaturalscienceforafullerdiscussion.
[4] Si enim puer diceretur primo habere substantiam sensibilem, et postea adipisci
animam vel substantiam rationalem, permutaretur de specie ad speciem, et forma
substantiali ad formam: quod dicere est absurdum. Deanimalibus, Tractatus I, ch.
16(Borgneted.p.70).
[5]Ta`lqt,pp.6364,81,110(Cairo,).
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[6]Degenerationeanimalium,Book2,ch.3.
[7]Seehersite:http://www.hgm2011.org/aida_i_al_aqeel.html.
[8](6222#1226#&)7016#28:
[9]See,forexample,http://www.elroy.net/ehr/abortionanswers.html.
[10]See,e.g.,http://peacepigeon.tripod.com/fetal.html.
[11] Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics, Book X, lectio 4, 1997 cf. Book IV,
lectio3,#566.
[12]SummatheologiaeIII,q.89,a.6.
[13]SummatheologiaeIII,q.89,a.5I,q.62,a.4.
[14]SummatheologiaeI,q.10,a.7,ad3.
[15]Cf.http://universereview.ca/R1033anatomy.htm.
[16]
Cf.
http://www.science20.com/news_releases/placozoa_now_most_primitive_animal_tree_life.
[17]SummatheologiaeIII,q.6,a.4ContraGentiles,IV,ch.44.

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