What has the base got to do with it? We saw Cedric transfigure a rock into a dog, so we know that, even if "living=>other living" is easier (which it probably is), "non-living=>living" is indeed well within the realms of possibility. Unless you're going to claim that Cedric had knowledge of the biology of Labradors that any Muggle doctor would kill for, you have to allow that it's magic that does the hard work, and not the wizard.

 

True, unless there is a generic "Turn Rock into Labrador Retriever" spell, which would be a silly way to set up a system of magic. Then again, we only saw him do this once, and he was chosen from all those who put their names into the Goblet as the "Champion" of Hogwarts - what has to count for something.

Perhaps also, he happened to have studied the type of dog he transfigured the rock into? Maybe this was his Seventh Year Transfiguration homework or something.

Finally, I am not sure what you mean by knowledge "that any Muggle doctor would kill for" - Muggle biologists know the anatomy and physiology of mammalian systems pretty darn well - its the internals of some of the systems that are still a big mystery.

Edit: then again, my defense of this is almost as flimsy as the "the wizards are too lazy to use their magic in these obvious ways" excuse.

 

I don't see why you're creating a disctinction between anatomy and physiology and "the internals". The information that doctors would kill for is the knowledge of how the brain works, how cells work, how DNA works, all this information that Cedric has to know if we say that he has to know about the animal he is transforming.

On the other hand, if we say that the spell handles this for him - a far more likely scenario - then what's to stop the spell in fact doing the whole transformation? Why are you creating this anatomy/physiology divide? You cast the spell to turn something into a dog. The something turns into a dog, if you've performed the spell correctly. End of.

 

I only made the distinction because Anatomy and Physiology generally occupy themselves with the study of systems, rather than Cellular or Sub-cellular biology.

Indeed. The point is, that in both explanations (wizards are too lazy, and my own) there is a rather flimsy reason for why something does not work as well as it could. Depending on the plot of a story, either one could fit better.

 

I think you both agree, but Modgudr likes rambling (you do know that the structure of your argumentation doesn't make much sense, right?).

Good point. I'm not sure, but canon certainly doesn't provide the easiest basis to work with, that much is certain. Canon laws of transfiguration are what cause a problem, and they seem to have been created for convenience' sake without much thought. I don't know those well enough to say exactly though, Taure probably has an essay on the subject somewhere. Another problem that often goes unnoticed is the question of the size of wizarding population, and how it evolves over time. That doesn't seem easy to reconciliate with magic either.

 

In a word, I'd say: No.

The canon world cannot fit together and work. The magic is far too powerful for the society that weilds it. Of course, most wizards are only averagely skilled, but even still...