Reimaging Xianity in the wake of Modernism's passing
Best Pro-Abortion Article Ever (& I am Anti-Abortion)
For my discussions on Friday in my Intro to Philosophy Class I am having my students read A Defense of Abortion by Judith Jarvis Thomson.
It is the best anti-abortion article I have come across so far. I say this for two reasons. First, it comes the closest to convincing me of the pro-abortion position. Second, it does an excellent job forcing anti-abortionists to clarify their stance.
I’ll likely post some thoughts about the article itself later.
Source: Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Autumn, 1971), pp. 47-66 found on JSTOR.
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about 4 months ago
Reading this….
about 4 months ago
Cool, let me know what you think. I should probably post an anti-abortion article soon.
about 4 months ago
hey Henry… Since this took me a bit to read and think about (gotta charge you for my time :-) ) , I posted my reply at my blog:
http://www.thechristianalert.org/index.php/TheB...
Thanks for sharing…
about 4 months ago
Kudos to you for studying the best arguments the other side has to offer. Too many folks just focus on the easy-to-beat sound bites.
I think you'll enjoy this article by Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason that offers a careful analysis of Jarvis' piece — http://tinyurl.com/55gcr6 .
Jarvis' article is compelling — at first. But upon further review it has many flaws. One obvious one: You don't just wake up pregnant in the way this person wakes up with a violinist attached. The mother was a participant in the creative process and has a responsibility to the “violinist” inside of her.
http://www.4simpsons.wordpress.com
about 4 months ago
Grace/Truth,
Thanks for the link. I gave it a read over and I have some comments. First, the violinist example only serves to parallel the case of rape only. There is nothing in that analysis that mentions that.
In the article, Thompson moves from 1) rape to a 2) medically threatened mother to 3) consensual sex with precautions that fail to finally 4) consensual unprotected sex without the intention for the production of a child.
Each # is paralleled with differing examples. For, ahem, example, #2 is compared to a mother trapped in her own house with a rapidly expanding child, which will killer her and destroy her house. Thompson asks if they mother can kill the child to save her own life.
The first two cases are her strongest. From outside a religious perspective, I'd have to agree with #1 and #2, but not #3 and #4. From within a religious perspective (which I think is inescapable) I disagree with #1, #3, and #4. I would have a hard time demanding a mother die to save her child. I would have a harder time having my wife die to save the life of my child. I'd say there are equal rights to life there and a bad choice is the only choice.
about 4 months ago
Good points. I know a few pro-lifers and none oppose abortions to save
the life of the mother.
Re. Rape – I've found that most pro-choicers would be strongly opposed
to capital punishment for the rapist but not for the child.
about 4 months ago
Grace|Truth,
Agreed. And that is where the violinist example falls apart, like Edgar says. Most of my students said that they would remain hooked up to the violinist even though they had given no consent.
And perhaps it is the case that one person's pain and suffering is not worth more than the life of an innocent.