Health & Medical Question
Books:
Gregory Pence, Classic Works in Medical Ethics: Core Philosophical Readings
Michael Sandel, Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?
Michael Sandel, The Case Against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering
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Wk7 Reading Assignment
- Pence, Classic Works in Medical Ethics, Selection 13: Mary Anne Warren, “The Moral and Legal Status of Abortion”
- Optional: Pence, Classic Works in Medical Ethics, Don Marquis, “Why Abortion Is Immoral.”
- Celia Wolf-Devine, “Abortion and the Feminine Voice”
7.1 The Moral Status of the Fetus
Why does Mary Anne Warren think it’s important to establish whether a fetus is a person in order to argue in support of abortion in a way that responds to earlier arguments (Thomson and PDE)? What are the criteria for personhood that Warren suggests are binding in consideration human beings in a moral sense?
By this argument, we’re sure that all fetuses (even late-term viable fetuses) do not have the right to life. But does Mary Anne Warren’s argument not just justify abortion but also infanticide? That is to say, would a newborn infant have the same rights as us and belong to this moral community, or not?
In what way is Don Marquis’ argument a response to Warren’s article?
7.2 A Different Voice
From what was said in the lecture and the videos of Carol Gilligan this week, describe what Gilligan means by this “different voice” and its significance for understanding the differences in the moral development between men and women.
How does Celia Wolf-Devine expand on this difference with respect to (a) our relationship with nature (2) human nature and (3) paradigms of social life?
Much of feminism hinges on the significance of gender-based perspective, so let’s consider some things she claims:
- Gilligan describes the difficulty for women to say what they feel or think and be heard without having it distorted. To the women in the class, I’m wondering if you could respond to how this resonates with your own experience. Is this something you also see as a difficulty? (the men can also chime in here too).
- Gilligan also describes her experience with her male students as being hesitant to speak of emotionally-significant situations because to care about relationships seems to them to be like a woman. To the men in the class, I’m wondering if you could respond to how this resonates with your own experience. Do you think what she says is true? (women can chime in here too).
