Essay on Judith Jarvis Thomson a Defense of Abortion

Judith Jarvis Thomson: A Defense of Abortion – CRITICAL EXPOSITION The goal of Judith Jarvis Thomson in her defense of abortion is to sway the ideas of those who are against abortion by challenging the arguments they give for thinking so. She begins by stating a premise. â€Å"For the sake of the argument† a human embryo is a person. This premise is one of the arguments most opponents of abortion use, but as she points out, isn’t much of an argument at all. These people spend a lot of their time dwelling on the fact that the fetus is a person and hardly any time explaining how the fetus being a person has anything to with abortion being impermissible. In the same breath, she states that those who agree with abortion spend a lot of their time†¦show more content†¦She believes that, just a like a woman having the right to choose to save her life, a third party should be able to choose if he/she want to assist. The next issue is, in Thomson’s opinion, the most important question in the abortion debate; that is, what exact ly does a right to life bring about? The premise that â€Å"everyone has a right to life, so the unborn person has a right to life† suggests that the right to life is â€Å"unproblematic,† or straight-forward. We know that isn’t true. Thomson gives an analogy involving Henry Fonda. You are sick and dying and the touch of Henry Fonda’s hand will heal you. Even if his touch with save your life, you have no right to be â€Å"given the touch of Henry Fonda’s cool hand.† A stricter view sees the right to life as more of a right to not be killed by anybody. Here too troubles arise. In the case of the violinist, if we are to â€Å"refrain from killing the violinist,† then we must basically allow him to kill you. This contradicts the stricter view. The conclusion Thomson draws from this analogy is â€Å"that having a right to life does not guarantee having either a right to be given the use of or a right to be allowed continued use of anot her person’s body—even if one needs it for life itself.† This argument again proves the basic argument wrong. The right to life isn’t as clear of an argument as I’m sure opponents of abortion would like it to be or believe it is. Similarly, the following analogyShow MoreRelatedA Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson1549 Words   |  7 Pagesif she did not have an abortion. In such circumstances, the woman’s right to self-defence outweighs a fetus’ right to life, however I would not allow that the mother’s right outweighs the fetus’ if the mother wanted to have an abortion of convenience because this denies the child of possible future experiences. Firstly, I will outline Judith Jarvis Thomson’s argument for self-defence. In her article, ‘A Defense of Abortion’, Thomson provides an analogy in favour of abortion. She asks the reader toRead MoreA Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson934 Words   |  4 PagesJudith Jarvis Thomson is an American moral philosopher that is well known for her defense of moral justice and description of moral rights. She has published in prestigious papers in ethics, metaphysics, and the philosophy of law. Including the most widely written essay â€Å"A Defense of Abortion† , that was published in 1971 in the journal of philosophy and public affairs. This essay constructs abortion rights with pregnant woman’s rights to control her own body and it’s life support purpose, as opposedRead MoreA Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson951 Words   |  4 PagesIn Judith Jarvis Thomson’s A Defense of Abortion, Thomson explores the relationship betwe en the rights of a fetus and the rights of a human, in this case the mother. Thomson is an American moral philosopher and meta-physician. She is known for her defense of moral objectivity, her account of moral rights, her views about the incompleteness of the term good, and her use of thought experiments to make philosophical points. In the article, Thomson defends abortions in several certain circumstancesRead MoreA Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson921 Words   |  4 PagesAbortion is a major issue that has lead to many different opinions, ideas, and various debates. Proponents for abortion often use the fact that a fetus is not a moral person to justify their position, whereas those who are against the issue often claim that a fetus is a moral person and should deserve every right a moral person has, including the right to live. Judith Jarvis Thomson, however, takes an entirely different approach. In her article â€Å"A Defense of Abortion† Thomson argues tha t even ifRead MoreA Defense of Abortion by Judith Jarvis Thomson1354 Words   |  5 PagesJudith Jarvis Thomson proposes her argument in her article, A Defense of Abortion. There, she explains to her readers during what circumstances is abortion justifiable. Thomson uses the argument by analogy strategy to explain to her readers her argument. She tries to reach her conclusion by comparing it to similar cases. The point she is trying to make is to tell her readers that abortion is morally permissible only in some cases, like when the mother has been a victim of rape, when contraceptionRead MoreA Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson1302 Words   |  6 PagesJudith Jarvis Thomson argues in â€Å"A Defense of Abortion† that abortion in cases of rape is acceptable because of the element of coercion. She makes a preliminary assumption that the foetus has a right to life, but she argues that this right to life does not necessarily include the right not to be killed. She m akes this argument in large part through a particularly vivid analogy of an unconscious violinist. Thomson claims that the analogy defends abortion in cases of rape by showing that if a woman’sRead MoreA Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson1784 Words   |  8 Pages In Judith Jarvis Thomson’s essay â€Å"A Defense of Abortion† (1971), she defends the thesis that abortion is morally permissible. She argues that even if a fetus is a person, and possesses every right to life, that that in itself does not constitute the impermissibility of abortion. In this essay, I will defend and critique Thomson’s defense of abortion’s moral permissibility in light of apparent weaknesses that critics have pointed out. Thomson’s argues that abortion is morally permissible. She grantsRead More A Defense of Abortion by Judith Jarvis Thomson Essay1075 Words   |  5 PagesA Defense of Abortion by Judith Jarvis Thomson In the article A Defense of Abortion Judith Jarvis Thomson argues that abortion is morally permissible even if the fetus is considered a person. In this paper I will give a fairly detailed description of Thomson main arguments for abortion. In particular I will take a close look at her famous violinist argument. Following will be objections to the argumentative story focused on the reasoning that one persons right to life outweighs anotherRead MoreA Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson Summary1133 Words   |  5 PagesIn â€Å"A Defense of Abortion† written by Judith Jarvis Thomson, the author analyzes premises for which she believes that abortion should be permissible, but argues in some cases abortion should also not be allowed. Her analysis is different from most papers on this subject, because she immediately throws the argument of if the fetus is a person out the window. She calls it a â€Å"slippery slope argument†(Thomson 54). Thomson, instead, presents that a fetus does have the right to life, but she uses thoughtRead MoreSummary Of The Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson1175 Words   |  5 Pages In her article, â€Å"The Defense of Abortion†, Judith Jarvis Thomson states an analogy involving a violinist. She first states that you are allowed to unplug yourself in the violinist scenario, second abortion after rape is analogous to the violinist scenario, therefore, you should be allowed to unplug yourself and be allowed to abort after rape (Chwang, Abortion slide 12). In this paper, I will argue that abortion is morally acceptable even if the fetus is considered a person. This paper will criticize