1. Explain Judith Jarvis Thomson's violinist example, and say what it is meant to show.
To summarize the violinist thought experiment, the subject wakes up in a hospital with his/her kidneys attached to a famous violinist who is in need of a transplant. The subject now has the choice to either disconnect him/herself effectively killing the violinist, or to stay connected to the violinist for nine months. Thomson’s violinist analogy clearly mirrors the situation of a women who is pregnant, utilizing the same nine month period. Additionally, Thomson designates the violinist as famous to reflect the preciousness of a child, who has a right to live. However, with this analogy, Thomson intends to elucidate that abortion is generally not immoral, even if the prenatal has the same basic moral status as the postnatal, because in certain situations, the mother’s right to the bodily integrity is more important that the foetus’s right to life.
2. Describe one important …show more content…
Although abortion is not the same as a premature death, it still deprives the foetus of a future, similar to how death does. With this, Marquis attempts to sidestep a controversial premise of other arguments against abortions that suggest a foetus is a person with rights. By focusing on the future potential of the foetus. Marquis is able to sidestep a common controversial premise of other familiararguments against abortion that deal with the foetus’s status as a potential person and the rights potential people have.
4. Describe one thing that makes dying bad other than the loss of a future, and discuss whether the fact that there are other things that are bad about dying undermines the argument Marquis
To summarize the violinist thought experiment, the subject wakes up in a hospital with his/her kidneys attached to a famous violinist who is in need of a transplant. The subject now has the choice to either disconnect him/herself effectively killing the violinist, or to stay connected to the violinist for nine months. Thomson’s violinist analogy clearly mirrors the situation of a women who is pregnant, utilizing the same nine month period. Additionally, Thomson designates the violinist as famous to reflect the preciousness of a child, who has a right to live. However, with this analogy, Thomson intends to elucidate that abortion is generally not immoral, even if the prenatal has the same basic moral status as the postnatal, because in certain situations, the mother’s right to the bodily integrity is more important that the foetus’s right to life.
2. Describe one important …show more content…
Although abortion is not the same as a premature death, it still deprives the foetus of a future, similar to how death does. With this, Marquis attempts to sidestep a controversial premise of other arguments against abortions that suggest a foetus is a person with rights. By focusing on the future potential of the foetus. Marquis is able to sidestep a common controversial premise of other familiararguments against abortion that deal with the foetus’s status as a potential person and the rights potential people have.
4. Describe one thing that makes dying bad other than the loss of a future, and discuss whether the fact that there are other things that are bad about dying undermines the argument Marquis