A Critique Of Thomson's Arguments Against Abortion
Student ID #: 916374191 A Critique of Judith Jarvis Thompson's A Defense of Abortion Probably the most famous argument against the pro-life position is Judith Jarvis Thomson’s Violinist Analogy, in which you are attached, against your will, to a famous unconscious violinist to prevent his dying from a kidney ailment. Contained in the original essay this argument appeared, A Defense of Abortion, there are other arguments contained therein to argue against the pro-life position. I would like to take a look at the entirety of her essay and show why it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Thomson immediately talks about the majority of pro-life arguments, which relies on the fact that the unborn is a human being beginning from conception. It is ironic …show more content…
Extending the length of pregnancy in this example is utterly unhelpful. The reality is that a woman isn not pregnant for her entire life, nor could she ever be. In fact, this is one way in which Thomson confuses intuitions. To the medical community, an abortion just is the act of expelling the separation of the fetus from the mother. If the pregnancy were to stretch out too long, the doctor could simply remove the fetus intact and, presumably, healthy. Considering that later in her essay she indicates that the right to an abortion does not entail the right to the fetus’ death, this is particularly puzzling. When it comes to a more extreme medical case, such as the mother being bedridden, I am not sure this would be grounds for killing the human fetus. Her last paragraph of the introduction references pro-life advocates who do not believe abortion is justified even to save the mother’s life. I believe that abortions in those cases are morally justified; I agree with Thomson that the view that abortion is impermissible even to save the mother’s life is an extreme pro-life view. I believe that abortions are justified if the mother’s life is in immediate jeopardy. She does wonder how we are supposed to weigh the mother’s life against the unborn child’s when the mother’s life is at stake, but at that point her right to self-defense should be
Thomson's Response To This Objection By Judith Jarvis Thomson
178 Words | 1 PagesAlso, while Thomson’s analogy does not truly work, the pro-life position is still not clear, because she is actually correct
A Rhetorical Analysis Of Next By Barbara Hewson
911 Words | 4 PagesThough Barbara Hewson thoroughly demonstrates skill and knowledge in the subject of abortion, she takes the subject of many conflicts and turns it into a mess of unpersuasive words. The development of her stance on this subject shows no growth, and although she demonstrated the use of ethos, her article seems to endlessly cover the same information she had already delivered. Her use of logos and pathos is lacking, and what little use of ethos she has gives the reader only basic knowledge, and does not seem to help deliver her point. Hewson’s intended audience, based on her writing, is people of higher educational levels, or rather, those working on higher education in medical fields. Her lack of usage in basic Aristotelian rhetoric resulted
Summary Of Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson
565 Words | 3 PagesTherefore the right to life does not entail security from getting killed in general, but rather not to be killed unjustly. Her main argument is that there is no definite answer as to whether abortion is morally right or wrong. It all depends on each
Don Marquis Argument Analysis
247 Words | 1 PagesHis outlook on the matter is, if we as humans believe that killing another human being (i.e., adult, child) is wrong, but we do not understand why, then why is it acceptable to kill a fetus when we do not know if it is considered a living being (Jones & Kooistra, 2011). Judith Jarvis Thomson, another
Review Of Abortion Won The Day, But Sooner Or Later That Day Will End
451 Words | 2 PagesIn “Roe v. Wade-- Abortion Won the Day, But Sooner or Later That Day Will End,” by Frederica Matthew-Green, the author describes how abortion is changing the way society values human life. The writer goes on to explain that at the time abortion was being legalized, they could not comprehend how high the rate of abortions would go up, from the perspective that it would be a last resort measure. She claims that once abortion is made an option, it then becomes the most convenient choice that could be made in that situation, rather than parenting or adoption. In the article, Frederica Matthew-Green goes on to refute the argument that life does not begin at conception, by describing how the zygote is formed. The writer made the connection between abortion and death very clear, saying, “How could I think it was wrong to execute homicidal criminals, wrong to shoot enemies in wartime, but all right to kill our own sons and daughters?”
Rhetorical Analysis: A Major Victory For Abortion Rights
609 Words | 3 PagesCharlotte Taft once said “Women who have abortions do so because they value life and because they take very seriously the responsibilities that come not just with birth, but with nurturing a human being”. The Editorial Board at The New York Times believes in this statement as well. The Editorial Board published an editorial on June 27, 2016 titled “A major Victory for Abortion Rights”. The article published, is about a change in Texas 's anti-abortion law and is intended for woman who can or will bear children. The editorial was created to persuade these women that if another woman who is pregnant and cannot keep the unborn child or does not want to keep the child, that these women should have the right to abort the embryo or fetus legally.
Henry Fonda's Arguments Against Abortion
696 Words | 3 PagesAbortion is killing a fetus, a fetus is a person, all person has a right to life, killing someone with a right to life is always wrong. In Thompsons article, she portrays that this statement isn’t always true by making arguments in certain situations that abortion is okay. However, many might disagree with her arguments about abortion but, to which I see to be perfectly thought-out and, explained. A person is not morally bounded to do something for someone else such as to save their life.
Lee And George Abortion Analysis
273 Words | 2 PagesPatrick Lee and Robert George assert that abortion is objectively immoral. One of Lee and George’s main reason for coming to this conclusion is that human embryos are living human beings. This essentially validates that abortion is indeed the process of killing a human. Another main point said by the two is a rebuttal to a common argument used in favor of abortion, which states that a potential mother has full parental responsibilities only if she has voluntarily assumed them. The rebuttal to this was that the potential mother does indeed have special responsibilities to raise the child.
Analysis Of Judith Thomson's A Defense Of Abortion
1079 Words | 5 PagesJudith Thomson’s A Defense of Abortion is an article defending abortion on the grounds of rights, duties, and justice. Thomson uses various thought experiments to represent different circumstances surrounding a pregnancy and the permissibility of abortion in these circumstances. One such thought experiment that she uses in her argument is the burglar example. If you open a window and a burglar climbs into your house, anti-abortionists would argue that the burglar has a right to stay in your house and you have a duty to shelter him because you are partially responsible for his presence there. Even if you install bars specifically to keep out burglars and the burglar still manages to break in then you are still partially responsible and he still
Summary Of A Defense Of Abortion Judith Thomson
1070 Words | 5 PagesThis, however, does not mean that she agrees that in all situations the choice to have an abortion wouldn’t be self- centered or callous. To begin, she gives examples for why the right to life of
Annotated Bibliography On Abortion
893 Words | 4 PagesThey talked about seven lies pro-choicers believe but are morally incorrect. For example, pro-abortionist believe abortions are needed to prevent overpopulation. When in reality, America and many other countries are below the replacement rate needed to have a steady population. They provided evidence of doctors that confirm their argument that human life begins at the beginning of conception. This source is most valuable for my essay because it helped me understand the views of pro-life.
Utilitarianism Theory: Jeremy Bentham And John Mill
1259 Words | 6 PagesMary Anne Warren In her seminal article “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion,” argues that because neither the embryo nor fetus nor infants possesses the cognitive traits of personhood, they are akin in moral value to a fish and have no more moral rights than a newborn guppy. 2. Judith Jarvis Thomson In her influential article “A Defense of Abortion,” Judith Jarvis Thomson argues that, even if we fully grant fetuses the status of persons, akin to that of any other person, this alone does not necessitate the moral impermissibility of abortion.
Argumentative Essay On Pro Choice
1132 Words | 5 PagesDoris Gudino Professor Chounlamountry Political Science 1 27 July 2015 Pro-Choice Anyone? A woman has, undoubtedly, the freedom to procreate, but once a woman chooses to retreat from that freedom, a commotion arises. Abortion is a woman’s choice for many reasons. It’s her body, therefore, no one else can decide for said person.
Critical Analysis Of Abortion
1021 Words | 5 Pages“Abortion -should it be a right of every woman in the present context- A critical analysis” 1. Introduction I elected to present my dissertation on a topic based on ‘abortion’ since it is a hidden social menace in our society. It is like an iceberg. The tip represents the reported abortions, which everyone sees.
Persuasive Essay Against Abortion
1085 Words | 5 Pages(Tanner) Pro-choice defenders also say that it is the woman 's right to choose to have the baby or not, forgetting the baby 's rights. The life of a human being begins at the moment of conception, and it is not the fetus´s fault if the mother wasn 't ready to have a baby or if the situation in which baby was conceived wasn 't ideal. For example, if the baby is conceived by rape, the baby should not pay the consequences of other people, he or she has not done anything wrong .”Compassion for the mothers is extremely important, but it is never
More about A Critique Of Thomson's Arguments Against Abortion
Thomson's Response To This Objection By Judith Jarvis Thomson
178 Words | 1 PagesA Rhetorical Analysis Of Next By Barbara Hewson
911 Words | 4 PagesSummary Of Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson
565 Words | 3 PagesDon Marquis Argument Analysis
247 Words | 1 PagesReview Of Abortion Won The Day, But Sooner Or Later That Day Will End
451 Words | 2 PagesRhetorical Analysis: A Major Victory For Abortion Rights
609 Words | 3 PagesHenry Fonda's Arguments Against Abortion
696 Words | 3 PagesLee And George Abortion Analysis
273 Words | 2 PagesAnalysis Of Judith Thomson's A Defense Of Abortion
1079 Words | 5 PagesSummary Of A Defense Of Abortion Judith Thomson
1070 Words | 5 PagesAnnotated Bibliography On Abortion
893 Words | 4 PagesUtilitarianism Theory: Jeremy Bentham And John Mill
1259 Words | 6 PagesArgumentative Essay On Pro Choice
1132 Words | 5 PagesCritical Analysis Of Abortion
1021 Words | 5 PagesPersuasive Essay Against Abortion
1085 Words | 5 Pages