Summary Of A Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson
analytical Essay
1559 words
In the Judith Jarvis Thomson’s paper, “A Defense of Abortion”, the author argues that even though the fetus has a right to life, there are morally permissible reasons to have an abortion. Of course there are impermissible reasons to have an abortion, but she points out her reasoning why an abortion would be morally permissible. She believes that a woman should have control of her body and what is inside of her body. A person and a fetus’ right to life have a strong role in whether an abortion would be okay. Thomson continuously uses the story of a violinist to get the reader to understand her point of view. Thomson starts off her paper by explaining the general premises that a fetus is a person at conception and all persons have the right to life. One of the main premises that Thomson focuses on is the idea that a fetus’ right to life is greater than the mother’s use of her body. Although she believes these premises are arguable, she allows the premises to further her explanation of why abortion could be …show more content…
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how judith jarvis thomson's paper, "a defense of abortion", argues that even though the fetus has a right to life, there are morally permissible reasons to have an abortion.
- Analyzes how thomson focuses on the premises that a fetus' right to life is greater than the mother's use of her body.
- Analyzes how thomson argues that abortion is permissible because it is solely to save the mother's life.
- Opines that it is not right for a third party to intervene in the mother's decision. a mother has ity over her own body so she gets to do what she wants with her body.
- Analyzes how thomson questions whether the fetus has the right to use the mother’s body for survival. thomson understands that depriving someone of something they need to survive is not right either.
- Explains that thomson thinks that when a woman voluntarily has intercourse and becomes pregnant, an abortion is not unjustly killing the fetus.
- Analyzes thomson's argument that it would be impolite to decline the violinist one hour of your life, but she doesn't believe it unjust. the good samaritan says that people should do what they can for a person who is in danger.
- Argues that unplugging the violinist and having an abortion are two separate situations. an abortion is an immediate death of the fetus.
- Explains that the violinist is dying because of his own circumstances of having kidney failure. the fetus is not in danger of dying when it is conceived.
- Argues that the fetus is related to the mother and the violinist is in no way related. thomson makes it out to sound like a pregnant woman is not allowed or capable of doing anything during the nine months of pregnancy.
People would find it more understanding and more willing to help someone who is a relative. It would be uncomfortable to have a violinist that you do not know attached to you. Also, it would not look natural for you and the violinist to be attached back to back. A fetus grows inside the uterus of a woman and has a natural look. This also allows the mother to still be able to do normal, everyday activities. Thomson makes it out to sound like a pregnant woman is not allowed or capable to do anything during the nine months of pregnancy. Thomson says in the story that while you are attached to the violinist, you are to be bed-ridden. This is not the case for most pregnancies. Majority of pregnant women are allowed to still go about their lives. In the cases of pregnant women being bed-ridden, it is usually in the third trimester of their
Related
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- The Ethics Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomsonanalytical essayThe ethics of abortion is a topic that establishes arguments that attempt to argue if abortion is morally justified or not. Philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson wrote a pro- choice piece called “A Defense of Abortion.” In this paper, she presents various arguments that attempt to defend abortion by relating it to the woman carrying the fetus and her right in controlling her body. On the other side of the spectrum, philosopher Don Marquis wrote a pro- life paper called “Why Abortion Is Immoral.” Ultimately, Marquis argues that abortion is immoral with rare exceptions because it is resulting in the deprivation of the fetus’s valuable future. He supports his paper by creating the future-like-ours argument that compares the future of a fetus to the
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the ethics of abortion establishes arguments that attempt to argue if abortion is morally justified or not.
- Analyzes thomson's pro-choice argument in "a defense on abortion," which is mainly supported by analogies like the violinist analogy, burglar analog, and the people seeds analog.
- Analyzes how thomson shows that the violinist's right to life is being respected because of the use of her body.
- Analyzes how thomson's people seeds analogy relates to the idea of how consensual intercourse doesn't equal the fetus' use of the body.
- Analyzes how marquis argues that abortion is immoral because of the fact that the fetus' valuable future is deprived.
- Analyzes how marquis argues that killing a fetus is just as wrong as killing an adult, if not, even more wrong.
1549 wordsRead More - Response to Judith Jarvis Thomson's A Defense for Abortionanalytical essayResponse to Judith Jarvis Thomson's A Defense for Abortion Judith Jarvis Thomson, in "A Defense of Abortion", argues that even if we grant that fetuses have a fundamental right to life, in many cases the rights of the mother override the rights of a fetus. For the sake of argument, Thomson grants the initial contention that the fetus has a right to life at the moment of conception. However, Thomson explains, it is not self-evident that the fetus's right to life will always outweigh the mother's right to determine what goes on in her body. Thomson also contends that just because a woman voluntarily had intercourse, it does not follow that the fetus acquires special rights against the mother.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how judith jarvis thomson argues that abortion is permissible even if the mother knows the risks of having sex.
- Analyzes how thomson argues that a person has no right to be given the bare minimum that is needed for continued life.
- Analyzes thomson's argument that a woman has no more moral obligation to her unborn child than she has to strangers.
- Opines that one may unplug oneself from the violinist by shooting him in the head, cutting him into pieces, poisoning him, but he dies from his sickness.
- Analyzes how thomson contradicts herself at the end of the essay by saying that she does not agree with killing the unborn child.
- Argues that thomson's volunteerism is fatal to family morality, which has as one of its central beliefs that an individual has special and filial obligations to his offspring and family.
- Argues that the volunteerist thesis is contrary to what people think. the idea that to be committed to an individual is fatal to family morality.
- Argues that pregnancy and childbirth entail certain emotional, physical, and financial sacrifices on the part of the pregnant woman, but these are also endemic of parenthood in general.
- Explains that the sperm donor is not morally responsible for the child he inseminates into a woman, but is forced by an unjust court to pay child support.
- Analyzes how thomson misguidedly infers that all moral obligations to a child are voluntary. the father's responsibility for his offspring stems from the fact that he engaged in sexual intercourse that could result in the creation of another human being.
- Argues that even if the violinist doesn't have a right to his life, it's not morally permissible.
- Analyzes how thomson argues that the right to life includes not being killed by anyone unjustly.
- Argues that the unborn has a prima facie right to her mother's body. the womb is the natural environment for the violinist, whereas being artificially hooked up to strangers is not.
- Argues that thomson's violinist illustration undermines the deep natural bond between mother and child by making it seem no different from that between two strangers artificially hooked up to each other.
- Analyzes how thomson ignores the fact that abortion is killing and not merely the withholding of treatment. levin argues that there is an essential difference between abortion and the unplugging of the violinist
- Argues that thomson's argument is inconsistent with well-established family law, which presupposes parental responsibility.
- Argues that thomson's use of pregnancy as a nine-month involuntary imprisonment in bed skews the argument.
4806 wordsRead More - The Debate Of The Permissibility Of Abortionanalytical essayThe permissibility of abortion has been a crucial topic for debates for many years. People have yet to agree upon a stance on whether abortion is morally just. This country is divided into two groups, believers in a woman’s choice to have an abortion and those who stand for the fetus’s right to live. More commonly these stances are labeled as pro-choice and pro-life. The traditional argument for each side is based upon whether a fetus has a right to life. Complications occur because the qualifications of what gives something a right to life is not agreed upon. The pro-choice argument asserts that only people, not fetuses, have a right to life. The pro-life argument claims that fetuses are human beings and therefore they have a right to life. Philosopher, Judith Jarvis Thomson, rejects this traditional reasoning because the right of the mother is not brought into consideration. Thomson prepares two theses to explain her reasoning for being pro-choice; “A right to life does not entail the right to use your body to stay alive” and “In the majority of cases it is not morally required that you carry a fetus to term.”
In this essay, the author
- Explains that people have yet to agree upon a stance on whether abortion is morally just. judith jarvis thomson rejects this traditional reasoning because the right of the mother is not taken into consideration.
- Analyzes how thompson's theses are strengthened by hypothetical and real-life examples. she disparages the traditional argument to cultivate a deeper analysis on the permissibility of abortion.
- Analyzes thompson's argument that it is not selfish to not pursue an action that leads to an enormous sacrifice. there is a significant difference between moral excellence and moral decency.
- Opines that thompson's argument has some weaknesses, such as she grants the idea that a fetus is person, and doesn't discuss the possibility of the mother opting to an abortion.
1114 wordsRead More - Analysis Of Abortion By Julion Thomsonanalytical essayTo begin with, it proves beneficial to clarify that Thomson supports abortion under certain conditions; therefore, she believes that there are cases in which abortion is no longer a justifiable course of action but there are a series of instances in which abortion is wholly permissible. From there we can begin to look at the analogies that Thomson utilizes to solidify her stance. First, she paints the picture of a famous violinist who needs anothers kidneys to survive, what would one do if they awoke to find they were volunteered to sustain him? With this analogy she proves that although it would be serviceable of one to stay, it is not required because it would not be an unjust action for one to detach oneself because one does not have any
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how thomson argues that abortion is permissible under certain conditions. she illustrates the analogy of a violinist who needs another's kidneys to survive.
- Analyzes how thomson introduces the phrase "minimally decent samaritan" to describe what she believes the best action in each analogy is.
- Opines that thomson's argument as a whole is unique and persuasive. she uses analogies that connect the issue to the reader’s everyday life and opens the debate of abortion to an audience that may not know the extensive background information.
- Analyzes noonan's argument that the main criteria for being a human is coming from human parents and that abortion is morally wrong.
- Opines that noonan presents a concise argument that begins by nicely combating the arguments in opposition; however, the ending is less substantial because of its religious affiliations.
- Analyzes callahan as a pro-life feminist, which she sees as the purest form of feminism capable of currently exist.
- Opines that callahan's argument would appeal to many women and girls who want to define their role in society. however, the continuous undertone of superiority in belief that the pro-life feminists are the one capable of making an impact, takes away from her arguments.
1305 wordsRead More - An Ethical Debate Against Abortionanalytical essayAn Ethical Debate against Abortion Each day throughout our world, medical professionals suction thousands of babies from their mothers’ wombs through a procedure called abortion. The law protects and provides consent to both the mother and the medical professionals for these procedures. However, the babies seemingly have no right to protection or life themselves because of the argument regarding when a fetus is determined be human and have life. Pro-life author, Sarah Terzo, in a LifeSiteNews.com article, relays the following testimony supporting this from a medical student upon witnessing his first abortion, “Rejected by their mothers and regarded as medical waste by their killers, society allows these babies to die silently, with no recognition or acknowledgment of their humanity” (Terzo).
In this essay, the author
- Explains that medical professionals suction thousands of babies from their mothers' wombs through a procedure called abortion. however, the babies have no right to protection or life themselves because of the argument regarding when the fetus is determined be human and have life.
- Explains that if a person chooses the pro-life argument that "life is present from the moment of conception," the next focal point of the argument concerns whether or not the mother has moral obligation to sustain the life of this child.
- Analyzes how thomson utilizes several examples and variations thereof to support her claim in "a defense of abortion." the violinist suffers from "a fatal kidney ailment" and "you alone have the right blood type"
- Explains thomson's logic that it would be a merciful sacrifice to stay plugged up to someone for the entire nine months. however, what if you were required to remain connected to this person for nine years or even the remainder of your life?
- Analyzes how thomson's analogy describes an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy and illustrates a woman’s disconcertion upon learning of it. thomson further questions whose choice prevails as to whether the violinist lives or dies.
- Explains that the main focus of attention in writings on abortion has been on what a third party may or may not do in answer to the woman’s request for an abortion.
- Explains thomson's premise that every person has a right to life, and the fetus has one.
- Explains that thomson assumes that humanity possesses a certain moral intuition -- our sense of justice. however, many times in society today, the terms have varied definitions depending on an individual or group’s beliefs.
- Analyzes how thomson presents an alternative scenario in which preserving the life of an innocent person overshadows the responsibility to keep that person from dying.
- Analyzes how thomson's argument establishes that while abortion is not impermissible, does that make it morally right?
- Analyzes thomson's view that having an abortion is comparable to disconnecting ourselves from life support to the violinist. she concludes that aborting the fetus is of equal moral acceptability.
- Compares thomson's essay, "a defense of abortion," to marquis' essay on abortion. both sides believe the truth of their claims but fail to convince their opponents to think otherwise.
- Compares the arguments of anti-abortionists and pro-choice strategies. each side presents a good argument, supported by some claim regarding the fetuses.
- Analyzes marquis' argument that killing someone is wrong because it inflicts one of the greatest possible losses on the victim.
- Opines that if we don't have a chance at our life, we will never know what our future value to society is.
- Explains that they used to define their opinions regarding the morality of abortion in distinct terms. they still believe abortion is the taking of an innocent life and in most cases is morally wrong.
- Explains that humans cannot define all situations in distinct terms. after speaking with a young woman who isn't physically able to carry her baby to term without losing her life due to her heart condition, they began to expand their original thinking.
- Opines that a nine-month inconvenience, illustrated by thomson's violinist analogy, is small price to pay to give an incredible gift to someone who desperately wants to have one.
- Compares the number of abortions performed in the u.s. since 1973 to the total number performed by medical professionals worldwide.
- Quotes keith riler's lifenews.com article stating that adoption is the cure for our abortion epidemic. there are 36 couples lined up for every adoption, and 4-5 million couples waiting for babies.
- Analyzes the impact of abortions on society by examining the billions of children aborted worldwide. what other contributions to medicine, technology, government, or science could these babies have made if they had been allowed to live?
2366 wordsRead More - Thomson wishes to avoid getting complicated in a debate about the moral status of fetuses. The argument she wants to establish is that even if fetuses have a right to life this does not automatically outweigh a woman’s right to control over her body. So, with the famous violinist she indicates a human being which has a right to life. If we think fatal kidney disorders contradict that right. In Thomson view point there are three other morally significant factors involved in abortion in certain cases. The fetus depends on the mother’s body for complete survival, the mother has not agreed to the use of her body and pregnancies
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how thomson's example of the violin player is a good comparison with abortion.
- Explains that the violinist has a kidney disorder and can only survive if he is attached to our body.
- Opines that if there were a difference between killing and letting die in the bathtub example, one should say that jones' behavior was less unacceptable than smith's.
302 wordsRead More - Thomson Abortion Analysisanalytical essayThe standard argument against abortion rests on the claim that the fetus is a person and therefore has a right to life (Thompson, 1971). Judith Jarvis Thomson shows why this standard argument against abortion is a somewhat inadequate account of the morality of abortion. She argues for the conclusion that abortion is sometimes permissible. She begins the essay by pointing out on whether or not the fetus is a person. If fetuses are persons then abortions must be impermissible, and that if fetuses are not persons then abortions must be permissible.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that abortion is morally permissible in certain cases, such as rape, endangering the life of the mother, or unsuccessful contraception.
- Analyzes thompson's argument on the moral permissibility of abortion. she explains that the violinist has a right to life, but does not have the right of using his body without consent.
- Agrees with thomson's conclusion that early abortions are permissible, and believes that a woman has the right to decide.
- Describes thompson's defense of abortion in philosophy & public affairs vol. 1, no.1.
- Analyzes how judith jarvis thomson's standard argument against abortion is an inadequate account of the morality of abortion.
- Analyzes how thomson points out that the right to life doesn't always include the bare minimum of what one needs for continued life. she uses an analogy of needing henry fonda's cool touch, on her feverish brow, in order to save her.
1346 wordsRead More - Thomson: The Thought Process Of Abortionanalytical essayWith the violinist, Thomson attempts to compare the thought process behind an abortion to a violinist receiving a kidney, with a kidnapped person forcibly donating the kidney. Similarly, a person who is pregnant may or may not be 'taken hostage' and forced, in whatever way, to become pregnant, and the idea of 'saving a life' in either the violinists or the pregnant person's case becomes blurry because of the other life being endangered in the process. The point being that the argument boils down to if a life can be saved, anyone else involved in the process of saving the life may not make a decision harming the failing or fledgling life, regardless of situation. The second argument of Henry Fonda suggests that though one thing may provide an
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how thomson compares the thought process behind an abortion to a violinist receiving kidneys, or kidnapped person forcibly donating the kidney, and henry fonda's people-seeds argument.
333 wordsRead More - A Rational Look at the Abortion Controversyanalytical essayA Rational Look at the Abortion Controversy One of the most hotly contested issues inside and outside of biomedical ethics today is abortion. The discussion received a new impetus at the release of the controversial abortion drug RU-486, "a pill to increase access to abortions and let women get them privately from their own doctor instead of facing shouting protesters at clinics. "2 As is the case with all controversial issues, there are very passionate people on both sides of the fence. Unfortunately, a heated discussion on abortion can easily and quickly turn into a battle of rhetoric rather than a dialectic of reason.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that warren's argument to be forceful would have to presuppose her functionalist paradigm as true — one could adopt the view that all humans are persons in virtue of their humanity.
- Cites francis j. beckwith's "abortion, bioethics, and personhood: a philosophical reflection" at http://www.cbhd.org.
- Explains that a syllogism goes something along these lines: deliberately killing innocent human beings is wrong.
- States m. leroy sprang and mark g. neerhof's "rationale for banning abortions late in pregnancy."
- Argues that abortion is one of the most hotly contested issues inside and outside of biomedical ethics today.
- Argues that warren's functionalist view of human personhood has a number of problems.
- Explains that the word "rational" is to be understood in the sense of "logically coherent."
- Opines that most people agree that sometimes killing another human being is morally justifiable.
- Explains warren's position, if correct, would justify infanticide, something she tries to deny-unsuccessfully-in a 1982 postscript to her original essay.
- Argues that thomson's argument that an unwanted pregnancy after voluntary sexual intercourse due to contraceptive failure is equal to rape is ridiculous. the sexual act by nature tends towards pregnancy.
- Explains peter kreeft's making choices: practical wisdom for everyday moral decisions. one might object that "abortion is morally neutral" is another possibility.
3882 wordsRead More - Don Marquis Why Abortion Is Immoralanalytical essayDon Marquis Why Abortion is Immoral serves as arguably one of the strongest philosophical arguments against abortion. Unlike many pro-life arguments, Marquis case against abortion does not rest on religious dogma and he establishes an organized and at times convincing argument. However, upon closer analysis, the premises he bases his argument off of have fundamental flaws that seriously invalidate his ultimate conclusion that abortion is immoral. These flaws are especially evident when compared to an equally famous philosophical argument regarding abortion – Judith Jarvis Thomson’s In Defense of Abortion. In her paper, Thomson offers a thought experiment, the violinist example, which adequately proves that two of the premises Marquis argument rests on are false, thus disproving Marquis conclusion that abortion is immoral.
In this essay, the author
- Compares don marquis' argument against abortion with judith jarvis thomson's in defense of abortion.
- Explains the purpose of marquis essay: to establish that "the overwhelming majority of deliberate abortions are seriously immoral."
- Analyzes how marquis' argument establishes that killing a being is morally wrong except in extreme circumstances.
- Analyzes thomson's argument in a defense of abortion. she states that while a fetus has the right to life, the mother also has rights to decide what happens in and to her body.
- Narrates how the society of music lovers kidnapped them while they were sleeping and connected their circulatory system to the famous violinist.
- Analyzes how thomson uses this thought experiment as an analogy to pregnancy as it illustrates a woman’s right to disconnect herself from fetus regardless of that
- Analyzes how thomson's argument discredits both premise one and four of marquis' argument. they argue that it is morally permissible to disconnect oneself from the violinist.
- Analyzes how thomson's argument challenges marquis' fourth premise, which states abortion is the killing of a fetus.
- Analyzes how thomson's violinist example proves that two of the premises marquis argument is based on are false.
1305 wordsRead More