If we disregard abortion and interpret the absurd scenario literally would Henry Fonda (or any other person) be morally obligated to touch someone if touching them was the only way to save their life? — Captain Homicide
My question is is this a valid analogy for the moral permissibility of abortion? — Captain Homicide
No, it isn't. It is a false analogy. In a false analogy, the two ideas share one common aspect, nothing else.Is Judith Thomson’s abortion analogy valid?
You wake up in the morning and find yourself back to back in bed with an unconscious violinist. A famous unconscious violinist. He has been found to have a fatal kidney ailment, and the Society of Music Lovers has canvassed all the available medical records and found that you alone have the right blood type to help. They have therefore kidnapped you, and last night the violinist's circulatory system was plugged into yours, so that your kidneys can be used to extract poisons from his blood as well as your own. [If he is unplugged from you now, he will die; but] in nine months he will have recovered from his ailment, and can safely be unplugged from you.
My question is is this a valid analogy for the moral permissibility of abortion? — Captain Homicide
It seems a bit of a strange and abstracted formulation to me but I am only looking at the paragraph. — Tom Storm
A bit more pungent. — jgill
Certainly she does - only if the sex is consensual - but to whom? Who is to be healed by another's sacrifice? At the point when abortion is considered, there is no illness: it's a quite normal, healthy pregnancy. (If it's not, the whole question alters)(at least when sex is consensual), the mother bares some responsibility for the situation in which abortion is considered, — Michael
Nobody has a right to life: we are all mortal. Nobody can be guaranteed any particular length of life; anyone can die for any reason at any time between age 0 and 125 (atm).Although as for abortion, the very premise that the foetus has a right to life can also be questioned — Michael
Yes. But nobody's all het up to write that into law and punish you for any attempt to evade your responsibility. Political zealots are far more interested in moral issues that involve sex, especially the regulation of female fertility.I knowingly have COVID, but nonetheless attend a party. Someone else catches COVID from me. I fully recover but they are soon to die. They can be saved with a partial lung transplant but none will be available in time. Am I morally obligated to donate a part of my lung to save their life? — Michael
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