Philosophy 220

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Philosophy 220

• Thomson, A Defense

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Thomson For the Defense

• Thomson starts where Warren leaves us, with the
  concept of person.
• Like Warren, shes not too complimentary of
  various attempts to define the fetus as a person,
  that is to grant it DMS.
• She highlights a new line of argument the
  problem of line drawing.
• Her response is to identify it as a slippery
  slope fallacy.

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Right To Life?

• Even if we granted the claim to personhood, it
  would not be enough to assign to it a right to
  life.
• Thought Experiment The Unconscious Violinist.
• Is it morally incumbent on you to accede to this
  situation (285c2)?
• This thought experiment allows her to quickly
  review and catalog a range of conservative
  positions.

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What is a Right to Life?

• One of the temptations to talk of a right to
  life is that the nature of the right is
  underdetermined.
• Some interpret it broadly as a right to the means
  necessary to sustain life.
• Certainly cant include subordination of others
  to your right.
• Others interpret it more narrowly as a right not
  to be killed by anyone.
• Here too, however, we have to be careful to
  recognize coordinate rights

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Do We have a Right to Life?

• Does justice require your subordination to the
  life of the violinist?
• Only if you have agreed to the use of your
  kidneys and then renege.
• So if he does have a right to life, its not one
  you violate by unplugging yourself from him.
• The upshot of all of this is not that we dont
  have a right to life, but that, having a right
  to life does not guarantee having either a right
  to be given the use of or allowed the right to be
  allowed continued use of another persons body
  (286c2).

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What about Abortion

• For Thomson, the proper understanding of the
  right to life is the right not to be killed
  unjustly (287c1).
• Thus, in the case of abortion, the issue is not
  does the fetus have DMS, but, even if it does,
  does that moral standing make killing it unjust.

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Is Abortion Unjust Killing?

• One important concern is the proximity of
  pregnancy to the violin player thought
  experiment.
• After all, weve already noted that if you agreed
  to let the violin player use your kidneys, you
  are in a much different situation than if you
  were just an unwilling host.
• One common claim (the woman willingly engaged in
  intercourse knowing that pregnancy was a possible
  implication) would suggest that the woman has at
  least partial responsibility for the pregnancy
  and thus it would be unjust to have an abortion.

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Implications of Willfulness

• A new line of argumentation dependency of the
  fetus on the mother (emphasizing the
  responsibility inherent in willfulness).
• Leaves open a series of exceptions (all of those
  when the will of the woman is constrained or
  interrupted (occurent or dispositional coercion).
• Claim is not as obvious as it is common.
• Open window does not give a burglar a right to
  come in defective bars do not help.
• At best, Thomson suggests, willfulness
  establishes that some cases of abortion are
  unjust, not that they all are.

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Argument from Virtue

• Leaving justice to the side, Thomson want us to
  recognize that the right to life doesnt exhaust
  the issue.
• Lets say that the violinist only needed an hour
  of your time. She suggests that it would be
  immoral to detach her not because she has a right
  to life but because the burden on us is so small
  that to refuse it would be callous and selfish.
• In other words, virtue ethical concerns seem
  operative in these circumstances (e.g., abortion)
  and should lead us to conclude that some (though
  not all) abortions are wrong (though not
  necessarily unjust and not because of RTL).

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Good vs. Minimally Decent Samaritan

• The Good Samaritan is a person who goes out of
  the way, at some significant personal cost, to
  help someone out.
• The Minimally Decent Samaritan is the person who
  seeks to help, but not at any significant
  personal cost or deflection.
• Thomson argues that the proper standard, both
  morally and legally is the MDS. To require GS is
  to require of moral agents more than they are
  responsible for (supererogatory actions).
• Thats all that we can ask of pregnant women.

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Two Liberal Objections

• Thomsons view is a moderate one. There may be
  many cases when carrying a child to terms
  requires only MDS, and in these cases the mother
  has a moral obligation to do so.
• Largely on the basis of VE concerns.
• The permissibility of abortion in a number of
  situations is not equivalent to a right to kill a
  fetus.
• Shes not explicit here, but she seems to suggest
  that after viability, methods of abortion which
  would preserve fetal life (c-section) should be
  employed.