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utsfl:classroom:seminars:pba305y [2015/12/03 10:22] – added link to TED Talk balleyne | utsfl:classroom:seminars:pba305y [2016/10/14 09:10] – balleyne | ||
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- | ess====== PBA305H: | + | ====== PBA305H: |
+ | FIXME Refactor this in terms of two core components to the argument: (1) speciesism, (2) personhood (self-awareness, | ||
+ | FIXME David Boonin' | ||
Most abortion advocates deny the humanity of the pre-born to justify abortion. Peter Singer instead argues that it can be justifiable to kill innocent pre-born (or newborn) human beings because they are not persons((http:// | Most abortion advocates deny the humanity of the pre-born to justify abortion. Peter Singer instead argues that it can be justifiable to kill innocent pre-born (or newborn) human beings because they are not persons((http:// | ||
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* Chapter 6, //Taking Life: The Embryo and the Fetus// | * Chapter 6, //Taking Life: The Embryo and the Fetus// | ||
* The conservative position, and inadequate liberal responses (p. 138-149) | * The conservative position, and inadequate liberal responses (p. 138-149) | ||
+ | * Liberal arguments against the second premise, that the fetus is a human being | ||
+ | * __Birth__ (p.138-139): | ||
+ | * __Viability__: | ||
+ | * __Quickening__: | ||
+ | * __Consciousness__ ("the capacity to feel pleasure or pain" | ||
+ | * Other Liberal Arguments he rejects: | ||
+ | * __The Consequences of Restrictive Laws__ (p. 143-144): This is an argument about abortion law, not about the ethics of abortion -- important distinction and powerful argument, but it fails to meet the conservative claim that abortion is in the same ethical category as murder | ||
+ | * __Not the Law's Business?__ "The fallacy involved in numbering abortion among the victimless crimes should be obvious. The dispute about abortion is, largely, a dispute about whether or not abortion does have a ' | ||
+ | * __A Feminist Argument__ (without denying the fetus is an innocent human body, claiming a woman has a right to choose what happens with her own body, e.g. [[PBA310Y|Judith Jarvis Thompson]]): | ||
+ | * Singer rejects the theory of rights behind it (p. 148), because as a utilitarian, | ||
+ | * But he believes the argument is valid, and could be defended if her theory of rights can be defended | ||
* Singer' | * Singer' | ||
+ | * All (most?) of the liberal arguments accepted the //sanctity of human life//, but Singer rejects that (. 150) | ||
+ | * "The weakness of the first premise of the conservative argument is that it relies on our acceptance of the special status of human life. We have seen that ' | ||
+ | * being a member of the species Homo sapiens | ||
+ | * and being a person. | ||
+ | * Once the term is dissected in this way, the weakness of the conservative' | ||
+ | * If ' | ||
+ | * If, on the other hand, ' | ||
+ | * Recognising this simple point transforms the abortion issue. We can now look at the fetus for what it is - the actual characteristics it possesses - and can value its life on the same scale as the lives of beings with similar characteristics who are not members of our species. | ||
+ | * those who protest against abortion but dine regularly on the bodies of chickens, pigs and calves, show only a biased concern for the lives of members of our own species. For on any fair comparison of morally relevant characteristics, | ||
+ | * FIXME the rest of 152 | ||
* Addressing an argument of potential human personhood, p. 152-156 | * Addressing an argument of potential human personhood, p. 152-156 | ||
+ | * He considers the wrongness of killing potential human beings, but his focus is on potential, not capacities... | ||
+ | * acorn/oak; Princes Charles is not King Charles; etc. -- rejects that A is a potential to X means that A has the rights of X | ||
+ | * FIXME all the rest of this section... | ||
+ | * The status of the embryo in the labratory (p. 156-162) | ||
+ | * Making use of the fetus (p. 163-169) | ||
* Biting the bullet on abortion and infanticide, | * Biting the bullet on abortion and infanticide, | ||
* Chapter 7, // | * Chapter 7, // |