philosophy quiz

1. Why does Warren criticize Thomson’s “violin-player” analogy? Do you think she makes a good case?

She feels that fetuses are innocent persons who have a right to life and should not be killed. She argues that fetuses and all other persons are humans and belong to a moral community which posses moral characteristics and standards and thus should not be killed. She defends fetuses on the fact that they are persons and should not be accorded lesser rights to life. Her argument makes a lot of sense, if murder is a criminal offense and morally wrong then abortion is not an exception because it is murder.

2. What are the two logical flaws Warren finds in the traditional “pro-life” argument?

She says that the more like a persona being become, the stronger the rights to life that being has. She argues that a fetus does not resemble a person at any stage to grant the fetus similar right to life and that resemblance to a person as a basis of whether it has a right to life or not since this will mean an actual person has more right to life than potential and justify abortion.

3. What are Warren’s criteria for membership in the “moral community?” Do you agree that an entity which possesses none of them cannot be a person in the moral sense? Do you agree that fetuses possess none of them?

She believes that members of the moral community should be conscious, reasonable, self-motivated, be able to communicate and possess a self-concept and self-awareness. Fetuses only possess consciousness they can feel pain, and that's the reason for the presence of amniotic fluid to absorb shock.

4. What does Warren claim about the relationship between genetic humanity and personhood? Does she make a good case? Where do you find strength/weakness in her argument?

She argues that human in the genetic sense refers to any member of the homo sapiens which include not only living human beings but also include fetuses and human beings whose brains are not functional, this makes perfect sense since fetuses and people in comma are not lesser persons. Her strength lies in giving equal rights to life to all.

5. Do you get the impression that Warren takes late-term abortion more seriously than early term abortion? Cite a passage to support your view.

She says “the rights of any actual person invariably outweigh those of any potential person” This means that at late term it is more wrong to abort since fetuses are closer to actual beings.

6. What does Warren assert about the relation between potential personhood and the right to life?

She says that the more potent a being is to become a person the more, the greater the rights the being has to live. So as potential persons move closer to being actual persons, it becomes more wrong to kill them.

7. Why does Warren think it is possible to both support late-term abortion and oppose infanticide? Do you think she makes a good case? Explain.

She thinks that infants are more close to being persons than late-term fetuses and thus killing them would require a very strong moral justification. Her argument is not satisfactory to me since late-term fetuses are fully developed and closer to birth and killing them is similar to killing an infant.