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“How an atheist could come to regard abortion as a great evil...”
(This is a thought experiment. I will lay out moral intuitions & then follow them to their logical conclusion. I am not taking any of these positions.)
First off - I will reject religious reasoning wholesale...
(This is a thought experiment. I will lay out moral intuitions & then follow them to their logical conclusion. I am not taking any of these positions.)
First off - I will reject religious reasoning wholesale...
Revealed truth will not work in a debate with those it hasn’t been revealed to.
So where can we start?
The value of human life - should be uncontroversial to all camps that human life has value.
But where does human life begin and end?
So where can we start?
The value of human life - should be uncontroversial to all camps that human life has value.
But where does human life begin and end?
I believe this is the wrong question and explains why this debate is such a dead end.
Because even within clearly defined parameters of life, value is not a constant.
The death of a 5 year old is far more heartbreaking than the death of a 95 year old.
Because even within clearly defined parameters of life, value is not a constant.
The death of a 5 year old is far more heartbreaking than the death of a 95 year old.
Why is this?
Because of potentiality.
The 5 year old has much more potential for greatness and beauty than the 95 year old.
So it is not that human life has value so much as human POTENTIALITY has value.
Because of potentiality.
The 5 year old has much more potential for greatness and beauty than the 95 year old.
So it is not that human life has value so much as human POTENTIALITY has value.
Is something of value lost if a fertility clinic full of sperm and eggs burns down - compared to an empty warehouse?
My intuition says yes - and so do crude measures of dollars and cents.
My intuition says yes - and so do crude measures of dollars and cents.
Because while not nearly equal in value to a living, breathing human being they have the quality of potentiality.
So the question of is a fetus a human is the wrong question.
The better question is how much moral value does it have?
So the question of is a fetus a human is the wrong question.
The better question is how much moral value does it have?
The potentiality affords it more than zero - but now we have to weigh it against concerns of the pregnant mother - who may have become pregnant by any number of horrible circumstances.
Outside of serious life-threatening medical conditions -
I think 9 months of difficulty and expense is worth less than a potential human life.
Which doesn’t mean it isn’t significant!
But potential human life may very well be the most significant thing of all.
I think 9 months of difficulty and expense is worth less than a potential human life.
Which doesn’t mean it isn’t significant!
But potential human life may very well be the most significant thing of all.
Anti-natalists would have you believe this isn’t true.
That it’s wrong to bring a child into the world against its will.
But for me this is the easiest part of this whole difficult matter of bioethics.
Anti-Natalism is clearly mathematically wrong!
That it’s wrong to bring a child into the world against its will.
But for me this is the easiest part of this whole difficult matter of bioethics.
Anti-Natalism is clearly mathematically wrong!
Existence contains within it non-existence.
To put it bluntly - human life can choose to end itself.
But it can not choose to start itself.
If a child has never been born, it has no choice. A child who has been born does have a choice, no matter how grim that choice may be.
To put it bluntly - human life can choose to end itself.
But it can not choose to start itself.
If a child has never been born, it has no choice. A child who has been born does have a choice, no matter how grim that choice may be.
So if you accept the precepts that
1. The value of human life is actually the value of human potential, and
2. Existence contains within it non-existence
I think you must come to the conclusion that abortion is wrong, without any appeal to God.
1. The value of human life is actually the value of human potential, and
2. Existence contains within it non-existence
I think you must come to the conclusion that abortion is wrong, without any appeal to God.
Some potential objections:
As a man how can you talk about abortion?
This is what I call the oncologist’s fallacy.
“How can a doctor without cancer treat my cancer?”
That is an absurd statement - but I believe it is the same one being made here.
As a man how can you talk about abortion?
This is what I call the oncologist’s fallacy.
“How can a doctor without cancer treat my cancer?”
That is an absurd statement - but I believe it is the same one being made here.
What about the rights of the mother?
The mother has no right to kill an elderly relative with relatively low human potentiality.
Why should she have the right to snuff out human potentiality in a fetus?
The mother has no right to kill an elderly relative with relatively low human potentiality.
Why should she have the right to snuff out human potentiality in a fetus?
