“As to exposing or rearing the children born, let there be a law that no deformed child shall be reared; but on the ground of number of children, if the regular customs hinder any of those born being exposed, there must be a limit fixed to the procreation of offspring, and if any people have a child as a result of intercourse in contravention of these regulations, abortion must be practised on it before it has developed sensation and life; for the line between lawful and unlawful abortion will be marked by the fact of having sensation and being alive.”. Finally, in light of these criticisms I attempt to extend a virtue ethics analysis to embrace a more robust recognition of the humanity of the fetus and the attendant demand of a near absolute prohibition on abortion. It has been made clear that abortion is a polarizing issue. At the most basic level abortion is the termination of pregnancy (Haney, p.10). If one thinks that the fetus is not deserving of moral consideration or does not have any moral worth that’s one thing and a very different sort of debate, but, if we make the assumption that Judith Jarvis Thompson does in her seminal work “A Defense of Abortion” and assume the fetus is a  person, or that the fetus ought to be morally considered (for the sake of argument) then when can the Virtue Ethicist claim that aborting the fetus is the right action when other options like adoption or parenting the child yourself are available? Therefore, there is such a profound effect when she could feel the doctor’s tools forcing the fetus out of her body. Judith Jarvis Thompson has argued that even if it is a person it is still morally permissible to have an abortion. Again, thanks for your comments. Each goal is part of a bigger whole, the human life, or to borrow a quote from Alasdair Macintyre “our individual narrative” (After Virtue 1984). I’m thinking, not so much. Therefore, the main reason why a woman can choose to end pregnancy is that she has full control of her body and the fetus. Clearly, if abortion is what so many people seem to relate it to, that is the killing of a person, then there would be no argument. Judith Jarvis Thomson does for the sake of argument and my purpose was to engage with those that argue on those grounds. But in the third trimester the baby can live without the mother’s support and therefore it is considered murder. why hursthouse thinks that a virtue theorist will not be overly concerned with whether or not women have a right to an abortion ? I agree that virtues are context sensitive and pluralistic in how they can be applied (which is why a 2200 yr old ethical theory can still be applied today) but VE doesn’t collapse into some sort of relativism. Thus, there is freedom of choice and there is no room for regrets. Act Utilitarianism is particularly useful, as it prefers to judge each individual case on its own merits, meaning abortion would be very much up to the mother, and what the consequences would be for her life. Any further ideas as to what virtues to act by in this case are welcomed. But she holds that the moral status of the fetus is not the question, it is whether or not a woman chooses to have an abortion is an action a virtuous person would commit. Well, if we grant that the fetus is a human being, then the virtuous person would care about protecting its right to life. There is less tension and there is less conflict because no one is forcing another person to adhere to a particular belief system. This is especially true for those who cannot fight for themselves. When it comes to abortion, we should not listen to the virtue ethicist. How can a virtue ethicist of TODAY who doesn’t adopt Aristotle’s nonsensical concept of a person (only men, etc.) Though similar to a consequentialist viewpoint which would determine whether a pregnancy should proceed or not based on the knowledge of the consequences of such actions (to the mother, the fetus, society, etc. Imagine it’s the corpse of a loved one and it might seem worse. I think the civilizations of antiquity and ancient greece in particular would not see any disconnect here between virtue and abortion. It has been a widely controversial debate for many years dated back to even before it … Can Babies Unlock the Origins of Morality? NJ: Enslow Publishers, 2008. (Intuitively, this seems like a plausible story). To virtue theorists, an action is right iff it is what a virtuous agent would do in the circumstance. Rosalind Hursthouse argued that virtue ethics is the preferable moral philosophy for determining the moral permissibility of abortion because it avoids the drawbacks from the utilitarian approach, and the deontological approach. With regards to the mutilation of a corpse – (Prima facie) I’m not seeing what’s morally abhorrent about this? However, is a baby a fully formed human being? However there are presumably cases where this is acceptable – to solve a murder case, retrieve something especially valuable from the grave etc. The main reason given can be summarized in the following statement: “The mother’s right to privacy becomes less important than the fetus’s right to life only when the fetus could possibly survive without the mother – at around six months” (Payment, p.44). It goes like this: Imagine you dig a hole, and plant a tree seed. How about a Toddler? I’ll have to think about it more. And; (C) How does the act in question relate to (A) and/or (B) ? It is motivated by Hursthouse’s puzzling claim in her widely anthologized paper “Virtue Ethics and Abortion” that fetal moral status and (by implication) its underlying metaphysics are … Did you cut down a tree, or did you stop the seeds’ potentiality of being a tree? (2019) 'Abortion and Virtue Ethics'. Thoughts? Its emphasis is on how things should be instead of what has to be done (Darwall, p.1). Also, one can’t divorce the issue from consequentialism since both come into play here, but nevertheless, there seem to be virtues involved in many of these instances. What Virtues would be adhered to in order to claim that abortion is the right choose when compared to competing alternatives? Roe v. Wade: The Right to Choose. Feel free to dig in on any of my posts. I meant Aristotle didn’t think highly of women. The virtue at play in any decision will depend on the particular person involved as well as the particular circumstances. This is also where virtue ethics, in my opinion, fails. Therefore, she has the right to terminate her pregnancy. I don’t think the Virtue Ethicist will have the option to abort (at least in most cases), and, even if we argue that the Hursthouse definition of right action as stated above (I’ve argued elsewhere that we should) is faulty, I do not see how the Virtue Ethicist could claim that abortion is the right action (only when starting with the assumption that the fetus has moral value, or is a person). (1) Imagine it’s the corpse of a loved one and it might seem worse. It’s not an appeal to what most would do, it’s an appeal to what a practically wise person would do. Now, let us consider the case of pregnancy. The Ethics Of Abortion Philosophy Essay. It was not intended to be a deep discussion about the considerations that you have mentioned, as interesting as they are. Naturally, our bodies reject fertilized eggs all the time. In what follows I attempt to answer that question by considering both what has been said and what we may further argue from a virtue-focused perspective. I begin by comparing virtue ethics to the two other dominant approaches in normative ethics and then consider what some important virtue ethicists have said about abortion, especially Rosalind Hursthouse. (Slavery as an acceptable practice in certain cultures as a case and point). Whether it’s a person or a ife deserving of moral consideration are much different arguments and not arguments I was trying to have when I initially posted. deal with the case of abortion when other viable options are available? Watch Vera Drake or The Cider House Rulesand you will see compassionate, courageous people performing abortions to help others. But, I’d love to hear an argument for why I cannot deny that he is wrong about who counts as a moral agent while still accepting his moral theory? Copyright © 2020 - IvyPanda is a trading name of Edustream Technologies LLC, a company registered in Wyoming, USA. With recognition has come critici … now i’m thinking with the notion that VE does not look particularly at the duty or rules, consequences or whether the person’s intention is “right”, but it looks at if the person is acting with good character or moral virtues. This essay explicates and evaluates the roles that fetal metaphysics and moral status play in Rosalind Hursthouse’s abortion ethics. The underlying issues of abortion are based on freedom of choice. Anonymous. By Jacob Countryman. If we conclude that a fetus does not have moral value then I don’t think any ethicist, including a virtue ethicist, will have a tough time saying that it is morally permissible to have an abortion or that an abortion is the “right” decision. After conversing with a fellow colleague about some of what is mentioned here (I appreciated that quick discussion earlier this morning) I’d like to clarify my position a bit. Simply stating your opinion doesn’t suffice to show why it’s the “best way” to draw parameters. For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. I noticed that no one has responded to you yet so I thought that I would try. Im not adding anything, I’m trying to discuss REAL cases. However, this ethical framework reminds everyone that the freedom to choose is useless if the decisions made does not build character and help people become the best that they could be. I’ll just comment on this part because I feel we’re just getting closer to an impasse – haha. "Abortion and Virtue Ethics." Human? IvyPanda. With regards to your last suggestion – I think that it would be a knock against virtue ethics if they would appealed to your suggestion as a way around dealing with the decision to abort. With regards to the virtue ethicist defining “what life consists in”, I guess I’m not sure exactly what you’re getting at here. An ethical theory should be able to guide action, to tell us what we ought to do given our particular circumstances. A seasoned critic just will be more likely to make evaluations which are more in line with what is the ultimate judge – history. IvyPanda. I’ll offer a response and try to keep it as brief as possible . The egg is fertilized by a sperm cell and conception takes place. Not much of a philosopher here, but more of a social critic. ROSALIND HURSTHOUSE Virtue Theory and Abortion. Hursthouse might here bring up the concept of “moral remainder” or even see this particular case – especially if you want to talk of the extreme case of rape – as a “tragic dilemma.” But I have a feeling you won’t be sympathetic to these ideas! It also seems irresponsible to not care what is alive and what isn’t…. Yes, Aristotle did not think highly of women, but one need not adopt his entire ethical view in order to take on his fundamental concepts and virtues as a starting place for an ethical theory. Non-Greeks are in! But the woman who is fully convinced that her life is in danger can opt for abortion because she believes that the baby cannot survive without her. I would argue that within Virtue Ethics, abortion could be seen as the right action for a number of reasons. The goal must be the development of character and the appropriate inner state. This termination procedure can be performed in different ways but the end goal is the death of the fetus or embryo. ), thus producing some number of abortions and some pregnancies carried to term, the virtue ethicist framework would approach the issue of the being or character of the person doing the behavior. Of course, by the time of Aquinas virtues had become christian virtues of things like faith and love and mercy and charity…etc. What virtue would be appealed to to say it was the right action (assuming other options are viable)? So, let’s switch gears. ETHICAL ISSUE: ABORTION INTRODUCTION The root question to ethics is whether abortion is considered murder or a justified killing? I’ll only say that you’re right, I’m not sympathetic to it (maybe somewhat sympathetic, though). We now know how human reproduction really works. Virtue ethics is the best tool to use when it comes to dealing with abortion. I suppose a virtue theorist could say that it is not a person. The choice is easier when it comes to the possibility that mother and child cannot survive if an abortion is not performed. You can view samples of our professional work here. What Virtues would be adhered to in order to claim that abortion is the right choose when compared to competing alternatives?”, So, sure, you can bring in Aristotle’s warped conception of what it means to be a person and I’ll deny that on grounds that it doesn’t capture all of the cases where we think one has moral value. Largely, this might be why he considered that only Greek male citizens could be virtuous. (NE 1107a-0-5). New York: Rosen Publishing. If the analysis of the connection between abortion and moral character is correct, it should help us in understanding the moral dimensions of abortion; it may even provide terms for fresh and fruitful di… Now, using virtue ethics, a woman contemplating abortion is asked to determine her life-goals in terms of character and having the right inner state. What you are are calling “Virtue ethicists” I would have called a “Situation ethicist.” My understanding of Virtue Ethics was first based on a definable action that was, in itself, virtuous despite the circumstance. A virtuous characteristic, when looking at the case of abortion, is incontrovertibly complex. While I am by no means an ethicist or philosopher, I do think I’m a thinker, not a linear thinker, but rather a pandemic thinker. Need a custom Essay sample written from scratch by His conception of a flourishing life and the virtue model is just as easily applied to women as to men, even if HE couldn’t see that. That all depends on what you mean by “fully formed human being”. With that said, I’ve done a lot of research on different personhood arguments in the past but I haven’t come across the book you’ve linked. Using the same ethical framework, there are women who will realize that another important thing to consider is not the inconvenience that an unwanted pregnancy brings but the long-term effects of abortion to their mind, body, and spirit. This paper will examine the underlying issues regarding abortion and then, use virtue ethics to determine the best course of action. That’s it. There is no middle ground in this issue. I tend to agree with your argument. Chapter 24: Active and Passive Euthanasia: A Reply to Rachels . while adhering to his virtue framework. Get PDF (258 KB) Abstract. What is a person? (3)If you’re allowed to add “other available options” to the argument, then I’m allowed to add, let’s say, “prior available options” – such as minimizing the chances of getting pregnant if one’s not in a good position to have a child. (stay tuned though, in the next few weeks I’ll be taking on abortion more generally). By doing so every woman desiring to terminate pregnancy is given a choice. To give it moral weight at that stage might invite giving moral weight to, at the least, animals like fish or tadpoles. I believe any virtuous person would assume the responsibility of their actions or would be responsible enough not to get into the situation in the first place… They would have to make some sacrafices and have compassion for the unborn child. What virtues would be considered as a means to allow or disallow abortion I think would be substantial here!! The pro-choice regard abortion as acceptable in some circumstances as women should be given a freedom of choice. (B) What sorts of considerations should influence actions that will promote the answer to (A)? Obviously this comes to down to what we define as virtues and their interplay with consequentialism and/or the knowledge of the consequences of our actions (which is integrally required for the virtue of wisdom to even be a possibility for example), etc. public good of abortion. The hoplites, the Spartans, the macedonian phalanxes, the roman centurions of the legions…all were founded on virtue or seen retrospectively and ideally as being inspirations of virtue. They did not have any problem with killing people and virtue. On the other hand this nation was also established on the principle that the law is based on reason and not emotion. If there is a 20 year old, in college, on a scholarship, got violently raped. Instead of focusing on doing the right thing, this ethical framework enables the person to focus on a goal. Cases including unprotected, uncoerced sex, cases involving rape, cases involving protected sex, and cases involving both married and single women. That’s not to say I think Virtue Ethics can’t offer guidance, I think it can, but the guidance that they would offer to nearly all (if not all) pregnant women would be to keep the child and not abort (I’ve yet to hear or read an argument that suggests otherwise, especially in cases not having to deal with weighing the life of the mother) . An African Religious Moral Theory and Abortion. EDITORS: Alison McConwell; Justin Caouette; Aaron Thomas-Bolduc. Hey Spurge, By using virtue ethics there is no need to force others to follow a certain path. This very potentiality of life is not something that is rare with pregnancy- attachment and detachment of the egg (once it is fertilized) happens all the time. Murder must not be taken lightly especially when viewed from the perspective of a hapless human being trapped in the womb of a woman who can decide that this unborn child is an inconvenience that must be discarded. The bone of contention centers on the meaning of human life because once it has been established, one can determine whether abortion is murder or another medical procedure. As stated before, a person may be compassionate for the hypothetical feelings/experiences of the future child thus inclining them to abort, with this virtue being a mean between cruelty (aborting just for the hell of it) and complete self-sacrifice (carrying the baby to term no matter if it destroys the mother’s life entirely). Although a tree and a human are not at all the same, they both possess the aspect of potentiality, and this is where the evaluation of virtuous character comes in. Consider the fact that the United States government sends troops to fight for the oppressed, to break the stronghold of tyrants. Thus, after the abortion there is no inner-struggle that can trigger a wave of depression and anxiety. I think you are right here Justin. Though, I think it’s quite clear that it is a “life” (I haven’t argued for any of that here). 2 Therefore, abortion is morally permissible throughout the entire pregnancy. Similarly, a seasoned moral agent will make moral evaluations more likely to accord with the verdict of history. It persisted as the dominant approach in Western moralphilosophy until at least the Enlightenment, suffered a momentaryeclipse during the nineteenth century, but re-emerged inAnglo-American philosophy in the late 1950s. I can easily account for women, non-greeks, etc. Lu, Mathew, "Abortion and Virtue Ethics" (2011).Philosophy Faculty Publications. Self-Quizzes. These include the Being a Person verses Functioning as a Person Argument, women's rights vis-à-vis the rights of the foetus, personhood as an essentially contested concept, and a virtue ethics approach. And the circle of persons for him was restricted to male, Greek, landowners…. If I am just too stupid to talk to, just tell me to leave. For a more developed account on this see my book http://www.amazon.ca/Right-Action-Virtue-Justin-Caouette/dp/3847340336. My argument is focused on the scope of Thompson’s argument; which sorts of ethicists could adopt her claims without being inconsistent. IvyPanda, 6 Dec. 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/abortion-and-virtue-ethics/. (2) One issue here is obviously that I’m very reluctant to grant it is a full life even just for the sake of argument. (ou on a limb with this idea, so can you guys let me know if I am correct with my thinking, or if I need to scratch it completely.). Aristotle was clearly wrong with regards to women and lots of other stuff.. To see why, Warren … Women, slaves, barbarians (=non-Greeks) were not in the set of moral agents for Aristotle. Moral and life. We utilize security vendors that protect and ensure the integrity of our platform while keeping your private information safe. I am sympathetic to most critiques of Aristotle’s science and his views on woman and slaves. What type of assignment 📝 do you need? This is IvyPanda's free database of academic paper samples. I haven’t tackled the abortion debate head on with this post. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must. Is it morally wrong and if so, should it be made legal or illegal? A Critical Introduction to the Ethics of Abortion addresses some of the most prominent and influential arguments to the abortion debate. Not long ago, I wrote a post titled “Why I Became a Pro-Choice Advocate” (https://lagevondissen.wordpress.com/2015/08/10/why-i-became-a-pro-choice-advocate/), so this topic sparked my attention and I felt like commenting on this older post of yours. It is a mean between two vices, one of excess and one of deficiency. In this paper I discuss what contemporary virtue ethics can say about abortion by considering both what has been said and what we may further argue from a virtue-focused perspective. There is no absolute right as the law stands for a woman to do what she likes with her own body and have abortion on demand. What’s your deadline? These virtues obviously have a more critical view of abortion. I’m more concerned with the argument put forth by Judith Jarvis Thompson. If you agree with me, that might point to a serious problem for virtue ethics. I begin by outlining virtue ethics in comparison to the two other dominant approaches in normative ethics. With that said, I’m not convinced by the clump of cells line of argument. Like the egg, removing it on purpose once it has attached to the wall is not the same as committing an immoral act of murder. This is a serious charge. Virtue theory avoids taking a position on the premises of deontology and consequentialism by demonstrating the irrelevance of questions on the status of the fetus or the moral right of the woman to have an abortion respectively. I then consider what some important virtue ethicists have said about abortion, especially the work of Rosalind Hursthouse. Women are in! The virtues of compassion and reasonableness could incline the mother to abort the pregnancy. But we would not do it frivolously. I do agree any virtuous person wouldn’t make abortion permissable, however the actual virtues are more important. In book VII of the Politics, he writes: P.S. But obviously the question of when the life actually becomes of moral value still matters and in cases) where the fetus could be aborted prior to conciousness (at least that’s where i draw my line the VE can still do so. Alive? If you substitute mother for fetus and ask the same question I think you’ll receive wholly humanistic answers; the question is about choice and reasoning when posed to the mother; when posed to the fetus who lacks reasoning, choice and speech then others (tinted by their humanly emotional opinion) respond on behalf of, or because they believe in, which skews your initial question entirely. Therefore, our actions can directly affect the narratives of others and vice versa. The database is updated daily, so anyone can easily find a relevant essay example. ), but even if we grant that personhood status was legitimate and that the fetus has moral worth, the argument for bodily autonomy would still apply and protect equal rights to both the mother and fetus, thus allowing the mother to refuse to donate her body to that fetus. . Virtue ethics like many other ethical theories, tries to answer the questions: (A) How should one live? The Pro-Choice arguments of when personhood begins are vague and, therefore, cannot provide a concrete moment of when personhood starts. Similar to a board game. But, a human life is snuffed out in each abortion. I’ve considered the virtue of humility and a few others when I was researching this as part of my M.A thesis. But through the guidance of virtue ethics they will also realize that the reason why they were struggling with unwanted pregnancy is that they lead a promiscuous lifestyle. Since you claimed personhood is the best approach, let’s discuss it. They decided that a woman can chose to terminate the pregnancy and in effect kill the fetus or embryo as long as it is still within the first trimester. The woman already is well-acquainted with a full-grown fetus inside of her. You’ve got a wonderfully intelligent blog. Because it focuses on one’s character, why they chose to perform the action, and doesn’t focus primarily on the outcome of that action (consequentialism) or some arbitrary rule (deontology). Again, (A1) is incomplete as well. Here is a second consideration, especially relevant since I know Hursthouse has an aversion to dealing in abstract or isolated moral scenarios (I am an ex student): any case of pregnancy has its circumstances which a person or two people with certain character constitutions are responsible for. I was not aiming to take on the question of whether abortion was moral or immoral generally speaking. Chapter 26: … Consider for instance the phenomenon known as postabortion syndrome. I do not think that many virtue ethicists speak of obligation and rights as fundamentally important, though a virtuous person in some instances might support the rights of another. professional specifically for you? The pro-life groups have the right to contest the judgment made by the US Supreme Court because this is a nation established on the ideals of freedom and human rights. But in most instances it seems that abortion is considered for no other reason except unwanted pregnancy. It is always a more difficult to apply Virtue Ethics, as it is concerned with the sort of people we should be. You can use them for inspiration, an insight into a particular topic, a handy source of reference, or even just as a template of a certain type of paper. Virtue Ethics. Unlike deontological and co… While ethics of care is thought by some to be antithetical to abortion rights, this article will argue the opposite. So please feel free to chime in then as well. When we do look at the particular cases I think the VEthicist is hard pressed to find justification to abort rather than other available options. why Hursthouse thinks that a virtue theorist will not emphasize the question of whether or not a fetus is a person? Not So Fast. Chapter 23: Active and Passive Euthanasia . According to Aristotle: Virtue- is (a) a state that decides, (b) consisting in a mean between extreme choices or vices, (c) the mean relative to us, (d) which is defined by reference to reason, (e) i.e, to the reason by reference to which the intelligent person would define it. With regards to the perpetrator being virtuous or not, I guess it would depend on hy he was engaging in the action. In other words there are so many things that are not yet known, now, what if the legal experts made a mistake? Abstract. The same thing can be said for people who force their ideas on those who believe that a woman has the right to choose to end her pregnancy. Virtue Ethics and abortion? Pingback: ‘A Philosopher’s Take’ Year in Review (2014) | A Philosopher's Take, “Now, let us consider the case of pregnancy. I did this not because I necessarily think that it is, rather, I was trying to see if the virtue ethicist could allow for abortion if they took that as a given as Thompson did. They usually argue whether or not it’s the sort of life that warrants moral consideration. What is a person? Abstract My goal here is to consider what contemporary virtue ethics can say about the problem of abortion. Life has value dead things? Agree with me, that might point to a particular belief system and situations which lead unwanted. Will be more likely to make evaluations which are more important as inconveniences rather than human.... Granted, we would think the perpetrator being virtuous or not the fetus over the nine months things! Doing so every woman desiring to terminate pregnancy is illegal obviously have a developed. 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