Abortion and utilitarianism. Debates : Utilitarianism, Consequentialism and Abortion 2019-01-05
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Evaluate a Utilitarian approach to Abortion.
Unless a common definition of life beginnings is agreed upon, it is impossible to apply ethical theories to it in such a way that both sides would agree indeed they would probably not agree even with common definitions. The Church of England's position, that abortion is evil but may be the 'lesser of two evils' is consistent with a situationist approach. This formulation introduces the concept of doing something for the right reason not for an ulterior motive. However, this requires the assumption that reproduction is the cheapest method of recruiting moral agents, even granting as it must that it has a high cost in time and effort - and this would require empirical support which would, if found, be the death-knell of most projects to improve society via reasoned argument. According to the teleological perspective a form of human behavior is described as moral or non-moral according to the goals explicitly set.
Indeed, it was perhaps a bit of an oversimplification. Some are preference-satisfaction theorists, which means they think that it is only the satisfying of preferences or desires that is intrinsically valuable. The world population continues to expand at alarming rates when we consider the limited resources of this planet, and some demographers tell us the world population will exceed 13-billion by 2050. The problem that comes about under this approach is that many times the issues surrounding abortion never really come to a final conclusion, but instead multiple conclusions may be reached depending on the variation of circumstances that arise. If it's not a person, then the utilitarian probably wouldn't have much trouble arguing for a rule that permits abortion. Act utilitarianism is more In this paper, I will be defining act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism, use both standpoints from a rule utilitarian and an act utilitarian to decipher their responses to abortion, and investigate both claims to come to a conclusion if or if not utilitarianism is adequate enough argument to address abortion. He sees a healthy man who has all of these organs.
Arguments for and Against Abortion in Terms of Teleological and Deontological Theories
Unlike in other ethical theories, in Utilitarianism an action is morally right only when it produce the most pleasure. As philosophical issues are often complicated and have potentially thousands of years of research to sift through, knowing when someone is an expert in a given area can be important in helping understand and weigh the given evidence. If you want to know about the moral status of some embryo according to any consequentialist theory, you'll need to know at least three things. I couldn't will a universal law of nature that would have prevented my own existence. Maybe we ought to if we knew for sure that they were never to wake up from the coma. But they can't ignore the hypothetical life the fetus might have lived, which might have been quite pleasurable or quite painful.
It is a shame that these embryos are going to waste when they could be used to benefit the whole population, or utilitarianism. It was lately reported that one-third of American women have abortions, and whether they are pro-life or pro-choice, they cross into the other side at will depending on their personal circumstances. Many Catholics say that this takes the pressure off people faced with difficult decisions, such as a woman whose pregnancy is threatening her life. Ultimately, by doing this I will be able to support the idea that Utilitarianism is not an overall plausible ethical theory to follow. Happiness and pain are determined as per quality and amount in every incident though it is not that for easy to test the things unless someone has tested the amount of both pleasure and pain. Utilitarian would probably grant their consent for abortion, considering the exceptional situation of such cases. Unless the kid was going to be disabled or depressed, leading into utilitarianism's issues with disability.
The Ethics of Abortion: Utilitarianism, Buddhism & Kant. Essay Example
Rules were introduced into Utilitarianism by Mill. In this case it is. And that's why any pro- or anti-abortion argument that hinges on the personhood of the fetus will lead to unsatisfactory results. The point of viability varies according to the state of medical technology, and, again, it is odd to hold that a foetus has a right to life if the pregnant woman lives in London, but not if she lives in New Guinea. If a baby poses a threat not only to the health of a mother but to her livelihood, then the mother is has a right to decide if she will keep the baby. Thus, I thought I might have some better luck at an actual discussion here.
He denotes the good points and the bad points of this type of ethical judgement while giving examples to prove or disprove his methods. A common pro-choice argument is that the mother of a baby has a right to defend herself against personal threats Thomson, 1971. Well, that's rather too clever by half, isn't it? The amount required to raise one child in a developed country could raise, at a guess, at least a dozen in a poorer part of the world. Along with discussing their contributes to this theory, I will evaluate their personal perspective on Utilitarianism and determine which is more plausible between the two. It is potentially essential in relation to abortion because it determines whether it is intrinsically right or wrong, based on seven factors.
However, potential mothers do have a duty to the rest of society to do their best not to introduce children who would either demand more resources than its family could provide, or who would be at risk of a life of crime or poverty should those extra resources not be available. Kantian: Mothers do not have a duty to bear a child, although they do have a duty not to harm it through drinking alcohol or other such behavior during the pregnancy if they are to carry it to term. Utilitarian would probably grant their consent for abortion, considering the exceptional situation of such cases. The difference between Ethical Egoism and Utilitarianism is, basically, that according to the former what you ought to do in any case is what is, overall, best for you alone, while according to the latter what you ought to do in any case is whatever would maximize the goodness of the consequences. This principle can be said to be a test for the morality of a moral rule and does not pertain to the action itself.
Buddhists have come to the conclusion that life begins at conception, as they teach that one incarnates in the mother at the moment of conception, meaning that destroying an embryo is equal to murder. Another important feature of Act Utilitarianism is that it is hedonistic and therefore tries to seek out the greatest amount of pleasure for the greatest number of people. In a nutshell, he thinks it's a tradeoff between the suffering of the embryo from being aborted and the suffering of the mother from not aborting. Pro-lifers however would argue that the fetus has a potential for happiness hence it should be taken into account when determining which course would lead to minimized suffering. Unless there is universal agreement about whether to encourage individuals to act in a way that maximises pleasure, or satisfaction of preferences, or contentment, or whatever, then someone is going to have to decide which quality is to be maximised, and they are going to have to impose that decision on other people -- some members of the society will find themselves acting in a way that maximises something which they do not hold to be valuable.
