Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Deontology framework
Kants ethical theory on abortion
Deontology framework
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Abortion
When it comes to abortion Kant’s position is better than Aristotle’s and should be used. Kant believed in Deontology; a duty theory. This theory stated that actions must be done because we know it is our duty. The duty would be to do the right thing even if it is contrary to our inclinations. Kant thought that more often than not our moral duty went against our personal desires because we are unable to separate emotion from reason. Abortion is a perfect example of this. Many abortions take place because the mothers feel as if having the child would ruin their lives. By doing this they are putting their morals aside to prevent an innocent child from what they think would be ruining their lives. Morality comes from doing your duty and
…show more content…
For example, these animals will not thrive alone. The process of change for political animals starts with, political animals being the potential moving to the right desire, then ending with moral virtues being the actual. Rational animals are those who possess the ability to have deep and meaningful thought about the process you go through to reach their end or ‘good’. These animals could spend their lives in thought without engaging with others, but would not thrive. For rational animals the process starts with rational animals being the potential, moving to the right deliberation and ending with intellectual virtues being the actual. This change symbolizes the irrational part of the soul transitioning from nutritive, to perceptive or desiring, to rational. The nutritive aspect of the transition is where we are born. Here we are controlled by our lust. In the desiring stage we lead with our hearts and yearn for recognition. In the final rational stage we are controlled by our heads and are able to make decisions that result in the good for everyone. This process of change also ties into the Practical Syllogism. So, if we are ever able to possess the right traits, they take a long time. It would take years for our minds to develop enough for us to be able to make the moral decision. Let’s face it, not everyone that is capable of producing a child is capable of having deep and meaningful thought and in most cases the child is conceived through lust, leaving many stages for the parent to go through before being able to possess the right
Kant says that good will is the only thing that is good. Human’s will, functioning well, is the only thing worth moral approval. It doesn’t matter if the person is smart or courageous if the person has a bad will. If someone is doing something for the wrong reason, but they still have courage doing it, it’s still not moral. The point of reason isn’t happiness, which is opposite from what Aristotle says. Some actions might seem like duties, but are just conformities with duty and because of that have no moral worth. An example we used in class would be the case of the misanthropic philanthropist who hates airports, but goes and helps the refugees because it’s the right thing to do. This shows that happiness doesn’t always come with moral
Mice are awful pests that once they’re in, they are not so easily to get out. They multiply and are everywhere, they may start out as one but they breed fast. Abortion started as one very revolting thought and has slowly grown into a widely accepted idea. To reverse the effects would take decades. Abortion has been around for approximately 40 years and has had many moral controversies along its way to acceptance. The different views of morality include Haidt’s six moral foundations, libertarianism, utilitarianism, Kant’s theory, Rawls’ theory, and Aristotle’s Theory. Haidt’s, Kant’s, Rawls’, and Aristotle’s theories all are against abortion and libertarians and utilitarians are supporters of abortion. Haidt’s six foundations are mostly against
To analyze the question of "Is abortion moral? " one must not take different examples, but use a single example that includes most, if not all of the cases. The only exception, for the reasons I will state afterwards, is sexual harassment. This is the only extreme case that occurs in real life. To strengthen the argument I will try to look from a Kantian perspective. .
Many arguments in the abortion debate assume that the morality of abortion depends upon the moral status of the foetus. While I regard the moral status of the foetus as important, it is not the central issue that determines the moral justifiability of abortion. The foetus may be awarded a level of moral status, nevertheless, such status does not result in the prescription of a set moral judgement. As with many morally significant issues, there are competing interests and a variety of possible outcomes that need to be considered when making a moral judgement on abortion. While we need to determine the moral status of the foetus in order to establish the type of entity we are dealing with, it does not, however, exist in a moral vacuum. There are other key issues requiring attention, such as the moral status and interests of the pregnant woman who may desire an abortion, and importantly, the likely consequences of aborting or not aborting a particular foetus. Furthermore, I assert that moral status should be awarded as a matter of degree, based upon the capacities of sentience and self-consciousness an entity possesses. In a bid to reach a coherent conclusion on the issue, the moral status of both foetus and woman, along with the likely results of aborting a particular foetus, must be considered together. Given the multiple facets requiring consideration, I assert that utilitarianism (Mill 1863) offers a coherent framework for weighing and comparing the inputs across a variety of situations, which can determine whether it is ever morally justifiable to have an abortion.
An issue that has flared up in today’s society, abortion is a highly debated topic that has sparked some of the most violent discussions. The rapid growth in teenage pregnancy has only increased the amount of attention that has been drawn to abortion and whether it is ethical or not. While some say that a woman is in power of her own body and can make choices based on her best interest, some take much offense to that and demand that a baby is a baby no matter how small it is and that abortion is never okay. It is important to know going into this debate that to argue one side, one would have to be 100% consistent with that decision because of all of the grey areas that come up regarding abortion. With that being said, I still believe that a mother should take responsibility of the situation and recognize that, even though it is minuscule, a baby is a person the moment it begins to develop inside of her.
On January 22, 1973 in the historic Roe v. Wade decision, the Supreme Court banned state laws prohibiting abortion. It allowed women and their doctors to make decisions about their reproductive rights in the first months of pregnancy. Today, many people believe abortion should be illegal. How would Aristotle view abortion? I believe that if men were able to reproduce, terminating a pregnancy would not be frowned upon, but instead considered to be socially acceptable. Would Aristotle’s view be the same?
How has abortion been modernized to fit today 's standards? In the article “Is ‘pro-choice’ really what we mean to say?” Written by Ellison, and Marvin Mahan. They talk about How Harrison had such a huge impact of the way women think of abortion today. Stating that women are the primary caregivers so they should have more of a choice than anyone. Ellison quotes Haisons quote “who shall control the power to reproduce the species?” And continues by making note “Only women can get pregnant”. The authors also gives several statistics to make their arguments valid. They have found three strong reasons why abortion isn 't such a bad thing, especially for a feminist. First if a woman is desperate enough she will go ahead with it anyway, it 's good there are safe medical procedures today instead of a dark alleyway. Second the authors know and point out that there is understanding sometimes the unborn child would have a destructive or dangerous life and the responsible act would to not bring that into the world. And lastly they talk about respect for human life. This means increasing moral seriousness
In this paper, I will provide my opinion supported by multiple theories and principles for the following scenario regarding abortion: Tina is a 19-year-old prostitute and drug abuser who has become unwantedly pregnant. Her mother is her only living relative and can hardly support herself, let alone her own daughter. Tina is not sure whether she should have the baby or not. Personally, I believe that it is morally permissible for Tina to have an abortion due to her unfortunate circumstances. Tina’s situation would be acceptable by the principle of utilitarianism and the moderate viewpoints of Jane English and Judith Jarvis Thomson and unacceptable by the standards of Don Marquis’ Sanctity of Life theory and Immanuel Kant’s duty ethics.
I think a fetus works the same, so when it comes to morality of abortion, many saying ‘no’ and many saying ‘case by case’. In my paper, I will try to explain Aristotle’s response based on his ethics to the arguments advanced on abortion by Judith Jarvis Thomson and Don Marquis in their essays, “A Defense of Abortion” and “An Argument that Abortion Is Wrong,” respectively.
having an abortion. There is a 0.6 in 1000,000 from a woman dying from having an abortion,
For many years, the morality of abortion has been questioned by two perspectives: pro-choice and pro-life. While modern culture explains that abortion is a woman’s free choice if she does not want the unborn baby, the Catholic Church teaches the world that from the moment of conception there is a child with a soul within the womb, and to abort it would be to murder an innocent being.
While Kant’s theory may seem “overly optimistic” (Johnson, 2008) now, it was ruled as acceptable and rational behavior then. Kant believed that any moral or ethical decision could be achieved with consistent behavior. While judgment was based on reason, morals were based on rational choices made by human beings (Freeman, 2000). A human’s brain is the most advanced in the animal kingdom. Not only do human beings work on instinct, but they have the ability to sort out situations in order to make a decision. This includes weighing the pros and cons of decisions that could be made and how they affect others either positively or negatively. This is called rational thought. Kant believed that any human being able to rationalize a decision before it was made had the ability to be a morally just person (Freeman, 2000). There were certain things that made the decision moral, and he called it the “Categorical Imperative” (Johnson, 2008). If someone was immoral they violated this CI and were considered irrational. The CI is said to be an automatic response which was part of Kant’s argument that all people were deserving of respect. This automatic response to rational thinking is where he is considered, now, to be “overly optimistic” (Johnson, 2008).
When applying Kant’s theory one also has to take into account the two aspects in determining what exactly the right thing in any situation is. They include universality and respect for persons. Universality states that you must “act only on that maxim which you can at the same time will to be a universal law”(Manias). Respect for person’s states that one must “act so that you treat humanity, weather in your own person or that of another; always as an end and never as a means only” (Manias). With this being said one must apply both of these to any option they are
For example, a mother who opts to abort lives a life full of misery and guilt following her unethical action. The same issue is explored by Kant, where he argues that frequent abortions would make the human race extinct. Therefore, not irrational or good to the society. Lastly, they argue that abortion denies the fetus the right to life which is granted by the Human Rights Commission. Judith Thomson argument that a human embryo is a person indicates that he or she has the right to life, and no one has a right to terminate it (Baird & Stuart, 78). Therefore, abortion is unacceptable, irrational and immoral action to
In Aristotle point of view abortion would be considered morality wrong because he believes everyone has a person and we were designed for a purpose. Virtue of Ethics “can evaluate the morality of behavior by examining the moral character that such behavior produces” (Velasquez 488). According to Smith abortion is wrong because it promotes a moral character ‘characterized by careless, irresponsibility, dishonesty, and lack of principles” (Velasquez 488). This theory emphasizes that everyone should take responsibility for their actions and that our choices defined our character. I tend to agree with this we are all responsible for our actions and those actions tend to have consequences that tend to affect us personality. This view reminds me of the view of adultery cover in this chapter someone who commits adultery also says a lot about their character because it shows that we cannot trust on this person because they just can keep their word or because they are your seeking pleasure without really considering the consequences and who they can affect.