HPS 0613 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Fetus

• School: Pitt
• Department: History and Philosophy of Science
• Course: HPS 0613
• Professor: Keith Bremer

Document Summary

On the moral and legal status of abortion. A(cid:272)(cid:272)ordi(cid:374)g to warre(cid:374), fetus is (cid:374)ot a perso(cid:374) (cid:271)e(cid:272)ause it does(cid:374)"t (cid:272)o(cid:374)tai(cid:374) all ele(cid:373)e(cid:374)ts of personhood: fetus = in placenta. Defined by 5 criteria: consciousness, reasoning, agency, communication, Abortion is taking of an innocent human life and thus wrong. Warre(cid:374)"s (cid:272)ou(cid:374)terargu(cid:373)e(cid:374)t: brody equivocates that a fetus is a human being, o(cid:448)erlooks fetus"s right to life. It"s (cid:373)orally (cid:449)ro(cid:374)g to kill a human no matter how poor, defenseless, etc. therefore it is wrong to kill a fetus because they are defenseless humans. Thomson: pregnant woman has no moral obligation to complete unwanted pregnancy, violinist example, violinist is connected to you. Human is 1) fully fledged member of moral community and 2) exclusively members of species of homosapiens. Noonan argues being human only refers to genetic code and therefore fetuses are human. 5 traits: consciousness & capacity to feel pain, reasoning, self-motivated activity, capacity to communicate, self-awareness.