There is no such thing as "inherent value"

Introduction: Abortion opponents make various claims to support their overall case that abortion is bad. I'm not an abortion opponent because it is obvious to me that almost all of those foundation-claims are themselves bad (as in "false"), so, logically, any conclusion depending on those claims must be incorrect.If an abortion argument includes any claim involving the concept of "inherent value", then that concept must itself first not be flawed. In this Debate I will take the stand that it is indeed flawed. My opponent must show that "inherent value" can exist despite my efforts.To begin, the definitions presented below can be found at this web site:ht......ww.dictionary.com(NOTE: I modify web addresses here to survive manipulation by the debate.org site. After copying one to the address bar of a new browser page, replace the first few dots with standard web-address characters.)"inherent": adjective: 1. Existing in someone or something as a permanent and inseparable element, quality, or attribute.In more detail, such a property will exist regardless of anything else. For example, the chemical element "gold" inherently is associated with 79 protons in an atomic nucleus. Every atom of gold has that number of protons, and every non-gold atom has some other number of protons, in its nucleus. Gold had that property long before our Sun started to shine, and will continue to have that property long after the stars die. Human (and possibly other) beings may have *noticed* this particular property of gold, but the property itself exists regardless of any such notice. *That* is what "inherent" is all about.Per the rules of the English Language, an adjective is something that describes a noun, so for "inherent value" to exist, a noun-definition of "value" is needed, and there are a number of such definitions:1. the desirability of a thing, often in respect of some property such as usefulness or exchange-ability; worth, merit, or importance2. an amount, esp a material or monetary one, considered to be a fair exchange in return for a thing; assigned valuation: the value of the picture is ï¿½10 0003. reasonable or equivalent return; satisfaction: value for money4. precise meaning or significance5. (plural) the moral principles and beliefs or accepted standards of a person or social group: a person with old-fashioned values6. (maths) a. a particular magnitude, number, or amount: the value of the variable was 7 b. the particular quantity that is the result of applying a function or operation for some given argument: the value of the function for x=3 was 97. (music) short for time value8. (painting, drawing, etc) a. a gradation of tone from light to dark or of colour luminosity b. the relation of one of these elements to another or to the whole picture9. (phonetics) the quality or tone of the speech sound associated with a written character representing it: `g' has the value in English `gem'Since the phrase "value of human life" frequently appears in abortion debates, and since the above definitions 6 through 9 are not directly associated with the concept of "being alive", they can be ignored.Definition 5 is about something that is known to be different across different cultures. That means it logically *can't* be associated with the word "inherent", so we have to ignore this definition, also.Definition 4 is redundant in the sense that, at the moment, we are seeking the most appropriate value or definition of "value" that would pertain to an abortion debate. Thus this definition isn't the one we want.Definitions 2 and 3 are both closely associated with "money" or "trade", and human life is often claimed to be "priceless" and shouldn't be traded (it is why slavery was banned) --so these definitions must be ignored.That leaves us with Definition 1 and the notion of "desirability", even though this definition also *can* be associated with money and trade. But it doesn't have to have that association. For example, someone might find value in a desire to do some "fish tickling":ht......ww.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com/why-would-you-want-to-tickle-a-fishThe value might be associated with nothing more than the accomplishment of a challenge."desire": verb:1. to wish or long for; crave; want.2. to express a wish to obtain; ask for; request: The mayor desires your presence at the next meeting. Definition 1 of "value" can certainly connect human life to desirability. There are vast numbers of stories about humans desiring to live in spite of various odds, or desiring others' lives (in any of several different ways).I may now present my initial case:[1]: "Desirability" is derived from the word "desire". Desire is a phenomenon typically associated with living things. For example, a cat may desire to catch a mouse, and the mouse may desire to avoid the cat --while a rock has no desires whatsoever.[2]: If the most appropriate definition of "value" involves "desirability", then it logically follows from [1] that value can only exist when living things exist.[3]: Since the concept of "inherent" requires a property to exist independently of whether or not it is noticed (which only living things can do), it logically follows from [2] that the phrase "inherent value" is self-inconsistent and thus can't actually exist.Q.E.D.