Lecture

Who is judith jarvis thompson?

❖ What about infanticide?

❖ Warren: A newborn has no right to life, and it is not okay to kill a baby. ❖ Once the baby is born, it no longer burdens the mother.

❖ Why not make others happy?

➢ Adoption

➢ Foster care

➢ Infants are valuable to other, if you don’t want it someone else does. ❖ Objection to Warren

➢ Why do 1­5 confer a right to life?

■ 1) consciousness

■ 2) advanced reasoning

■ 3) self motivated activity

■ 4) language

■ 5) self concepts

➢ Warren doesn’t justify them well

What is the plutarch’s ship of theseus?

❖ Characteristic

➢ Sentience (feel pain)

➢ Must be alive

❖ Corresponding right If you want to learn more check out Is it possible for a monopolistically competitive firm to make a profit in the short-run?

➢ Right not to be tortured

➢ Right not to be killed

❖ Don Marquis: We also discuss several other topics like Define economics.

➢ “Why abortion is immoral?”

➢ Why is it bad to kill an adult?

■ Personal reason→to harm victim

■ Social reason→harm to others

❖ It’s very wrong to kill a “hermit”

➢ The main reasons are personal

➢ How does killing you hurt you?

❖ Marquis:

➢ you lose your future. No friendships, no chocolate, no accomplishments, no sex, nothing.

Emmett till, died at what age?

We also discuss several other topics like What discrimination mean?

➢ Marquis’ Account Explains:

■ Why killing is so bad→it deprives its victim of everything

■ Why dying young is tragic

■ Why killing person­aliens is bad

■ Why killing people who are suffering and dying is not bad

■ Why killing babies is bad

➢ But the fetus loses even more potential than an adult!

➢ The fetus has even more good life ahead of it. Bottom line, abortion is murder.

❖ Famous people who died young:

➢ James Dean, Kurt Cobain, Andy Kaufman, John Belushi, Marilyn Monroe ➢ Amy Winehouse, Jim Morrison, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Elvis Presley ➢ John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Tupac SHakur, Jon Binet Ramsey, Patsy Cline

❖ Emmett Till→killed at 14 years old and spurred civil rights movement. ➢ Killers found not guilty by all white jury

❖ Marquis’ Argument:

➢ Killing adults is wrong because it deprives them of their future.

➢ If (1), then killing fetuses is wrong because it deprives them of their future. ➢ Killing fetuses is wrong because it deprives them of their future. We also discuss several other topics like Is flucloxacillin a broad spectrum antibiotic?
If you want to learn more check out What is the most abundant mineral in the body?

➢ (3) is in old testament: if you’re a slut, you should die.

■ But this could kill the baby too

❖ Historical accident that anti­abortion is related to Christianity.

❖ Criticisms to Marquis:

➢ Its inference is valid

➢ “If you apply, you’ll get in.”

➢ You apply. What do you expect?

❖ The vulnerable step is (2)

➢ (2) relies on an analogy between adults and fetuses.

➢ A possible disanalogy: Why does killing a 20 year old deprive him of his future? ■ Because if you don’t kill him, he may live another 60 years. We also discuss several other topics like What are the traits of a personality disorder?

■ We assume: the same person will exist this whole time

■ This assumption can be questioned regarding fetuses.

■ Will the fetus be the child it develops into? If not, it’s okay to deprive fetuses of their futures, since they won’t exist for very long.

➢ Why think this?

❖ Three Theories According to Which You Never Were a Fetus:

➢ 1) same person requires same parts.

■ Plutarch’s Ship of Theseus:

● Periodically, a plank is replaced

● After many years, every plank has been replaced.

● Is the ship the same? Maybe.

■ Cell turnover/ cell addition:

● Because the child has few cells in common with the fetus, the

child is not the fetus

■ Objection→ does this imply that no one lasts more than 9 years? ■ 2 growing things, do they have enough in common (at any point in time)? ➢ 2) Same person requires memory links

■ ex) advanced dementia:

● Real question: is this the same grandma I used to know?

● No memory. (people think, “my friend is gone.” why?)

■ ex) complete amnesia

● Can’t remember being earlier person ⇑⇑⇑

■ Objection: “I don’t remember my 6th birthday party, but i was there.” ■ Response: a chain of memories links you to that person

■ I can remember some even when i was 10. When i was 10, i remembered something when i was 7. That 7 year old version remembers 6th birthday party.

■ On this view, you were not the fetus because the fetus has no memories to establish a link to you.

■ Was that you when you blacked out at a party?

● You have memories when you are blacked out. Yes you are.

■ What about your bizarre dreams, that you don’t remember?

● Is that you dreaming? Maybe, maybe not, it depends on whether

the dream person remembers your life

● 18% of our lives are spent dreaming

➢ 3) same person requires same personality .

■ Dissociative identity disorder→different personalities (very rare)

■ Same person, but just no memory, same personality

■ Myers Briggs personality test

■ What about random person with close personality?

■ When you grow up, your personality stays the same.

● But the fetus has no personality, so you can’t be the same person

as the fetus.

■ But maybe bodily (small changes everyday) continuity is enough to ensure same personhood.

● If so, then the fetus is the adult and Marquis argument is

supported.

❖ Judith Jarvis Thompson

➢ “A Defense on Abortion”

➢ When a woman has voluntary sex, she has not made the promise to have a baby.