Abortion And The Right To Life Philosophy Essay

Abortion And The Right To Life Philosophy Essay As both Judith Thomson and Don Marquis accept, a fetus is believed to become a living human sometime before birth. While most anti-abortion and pro-choice advocates believe the morality of abortion depends largely on this issue, both Thomson and Marquis believe more moral reasoning must occur to reach a sound conclusion. Don Marquis, arguing against abortion, establishes a fetuss right to life through examining the wrongness behind killing adult humans and relating fetuses to adult humans. Judith Thomson, defending abortion, does note a fetuss right to life, but finds this right not compelling enough to forbid abortions by revealing ones lack of an obligation to provide a fetus with life. While both philosophers search deeper into human rights than the standard arguments for and against abortion do, Judith Thomson presents a more convincing argument defending abortion that exposes holes in Don Marquiss argument by revealing the dependency of fetuses and their need to be given life. To undermine the view that abortion is immoral even in cases involving rape, Thomson first suggests considering a situation where a man wakes up and finds himself kidnapped and in a hospital bed with a famous violinist. In addition to being kidnapped, the man is told that the violinist has a fatal kidney disorder and that his circulatory system was plugged into the circulatory system of the violinist. Lastly, the man is told by the hospital staff that all persons have a right to life, so although the man has a right to what happens to his body, he cannot disconnect himself from the violinist and kill the violinist. Since the man being morally required to remain plugged into the violinist for any period of time seems extremely unreasonable and unlikely, Thomson offers a legitimate challenge to the anti-abortion argument in cases of rape. Additionally, since, although the man was kidnapped, it would certainly not be immoral for the man to detach himself from the violinist, this example also has stronger implications for Thomson. As Thomson argues, the fact that ones right to life most likely does not depend on whether one is the product of rape shows that some other right must exist that either allows or neglects ones right to life. This example introduces Thomsons main defense for abortion by suggesting that merely having the right to life may not necessarily mean that the killing of that person would be immoral. Thomson demonstrates the moral gap between showing ones right to life and then concluding that killing that person is immoral by exploring what the right to life actually entails. Thomson offers two perspectives on the right to life and reveals this gap in each. In the first perspective, Thomson claims the right to life includes having a right to be given at least the bare minimum one needs for continued life (Thomson 55). To disprove this claim, Thomson creates a new situation where the only way to save someone from death would be to have Henry Fonda touch the persons forehead. Since Henry Fonda does not have any moral obligation to touch the persons forehead and save him, though the person does have a right to life, Thomson refutes an assumption important to the anti-abortion argument: that the right to life includes the right to be given life. Thomson proves a similar point in disputing a more narrow definition of the right to life. In disputing that the right to life includes the right not to be killed by anybody, Thomson returns to the violinist example. Using the claim that the violinist has a right not to be killed by anybody since the violinist has a right to life, Thomson concludes that the violinist then has a right against everybody to prevent the man from detaching himself and killing the violinist. Since it seems difficult to find any moral reasoning that obligates the man to remain attached to the violinist, Thomson here offers evidence against a more general claim that happens to underlie almost all arguments against abortion: the claim that right to life guarantees the right not to be killed by anybody. Offering an opposing argument to Judith Thomson, Don Marquis attempts to challenge Thomsons argument by relying on a fetuss right to life. To demonstrate this right and what it means, Marquis evaluates the reasons behind the wrongness of killing adult humans. In conclusion, Marquis claims the wrongness of killing an adult human is the loss of all the activities, projects, and experiences that would have comprised the adults personal life. Marquis shows the validity of this claim by ensuring that this idea supports our natural inclinations, such as that killing is one of the worst crimes and that killing animals is also wrong, and by considering and then discrediting other theories. Although Judith Thomson would seemingly agree with this sound theory regarding the immorality of killing adults, she would certainly find fault with the premises and the ultimate conclusion Marquis draws: that abortion is prima facie an immoral act. To come to this conclusion, Marquis presents the idea that the future of a standard fetus includes a set of experiences, projects, activities, and such which are identical with the futures of adult human being and are identical with the futures of young children (Marquis 31). He continues the reason that is sufficient to explain why it is wrong to kill human beings after the time of birth is a reason that also applies to fetuses, and this leads to his conclusion. As Thomson notes in her article, a key distinction between both the futures and the actual lives of adults and fetuses lies in the fetuss dependence on the mother for its livelihood. As Thomson proves through her violinist example and Henry Fonda example, any persons right to lif e, interpreted by Marquis to mean the right for a human not to have the value of his future taken from him and interpreted by Thomson either to be given the basic means to live or the right not to be killed, does not obligate anyone to provide life to that person according to any of these meanings. Since fetuses are not capable of having any type of livelihood without someone giving them the basic necessities to live, it follows that a mother may morally be allowed to abort her fetus if she does not desire to give the fetus life. While Thomson and Marquis may seemingly agree that ones right to life, regardless of its interpretation, ensures that one has the right to be allowed to live, Thomson proves that this right does not include the right to be given life, which is so essential for a fetus to live. Since Marquis focuses on the right to life of adults, who usually do not need a right to be given life, his argument lacks the distinction Thomson makes between a right to life and a right to be given life. Since Marquiss argument holds that the fetuss right to life obligates the mother to provide her fetus with life, Marquis would seemingly believe the man connected to the violinist in Thomsons example would be equally obligated to provide the violinist with life. Marquis may argue that the relationship between the man and the violinist is different than the relationship between a mother and fetus, but, as Marquis argues in his own work, he would then need to justify how the purely biological characteristics of motherhood is morally relevant. In presenting arguments for and against abortion, Judith Thomson and Don Marquis both acknowledge humans right to life, but ultimately interpret this right differently. While Marquis connects a fetuss possession of the properties that make killing adult humans wrong to abortion being immoral, Thomson focuses on a fetuss dependence on someone else and ones lack of an obligation to provide for others. As Thomson implies, one does not have an obligation to provide for another unless one chooses to, and only after that point is ending the provisions immoral.

International Case : Reengineering the Business Process at Procter & Gamble

1) The reengineering efforts of P&G focused on the business process system. Do you think other processes, such as the human system, or other managerial policies need to be considered in a process redesign?2) What do you think was the reaction of the brand managers, who may have worked under the old system for many years, when the category management structure was installed?3) As a consultant, would you have recommended a top-down or a bottom-up approach, or both, to process redesign and organizational change?4) What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.How should Mr. Durant assess the opportunities in various countries around the world? Mr. Durant, the new CEO since 2005, embarked on the new strategy by offering 15percent new products in its hypermarkets and 10 percent in its supermarkets. Moreover, he wants to employ more staff, extend the operating hours in certain hypermarkets, cutting prices, trying small stores, and pushing down decision making. Mr. Durant aims to stay only in countries where Carrefour is among the top retailers.2. Should Carrefour adopt Wal-Mart's strategy of â€Å"low prices everyday†? What would be the advantage or disadvantage of such a strategy? Yes certainly they have to adopt the strategy of low pricing every day, In France, where Carrefour is well established, the company made the big mistake in its pricing policy. Itprobably started with the 1999 merger with Promodes, the French discount chain.Carrefour confused the French clientele by losing its low-cost image. The new strategy which they want to implement discounts and cutting prices, trying small stores certainly will help Carrefour to keep their competition in all over the world. 3. How could Carrefour differentiate itself from Wal-Mart?Wal-Mart is more than just the world's largest retailer. It is an economic force, a cultural phenomenon and a lightning rod for controversy. It all started with a simple philosophy from founder Sam Walton: Offer shoppers lower prices than they get anywhere else. That basic strategy has shaped Wal-Mart's culture and driven the company's growth.Now that Wal-Mart is so huge, it has unprecedented power to shape labour markets globally and change the way entire industries operate.

Defining Multilingualism

How do schools define multilingualism in their public presentations of work? Emily Marshall In our readings, there are many different terms used to describe English Language Learners. Understanding the terms and labels will help us better understand how school districts word choice might reflect on how they deal with a particular population. Terms Associated With ELLS Reading through Gibbons, think most people would agree that he uses the term â€Å"EL Learners which is English Language Learners.In our community, his would mean anyone who is actively learning the English language. While Gibbons only mentions one term, Offline mentions many. In the introduction, Offline describes the different names that happen to come up when describing English Language Learners. Some of the terms mentioned are ELLS, Lips, bilinguals, culturally and linguistically diverse, children with English language communication barriers, English as a second language, language minority, emergent bilinguals, Eng lish proficient, and LOT E.As was reading, I was amazed at how many terms there actually are ND that's probably not even half of them. ELLS being already described, LEAP means Limited English Proficient and basically means students who have an insufficient level of English to meet the state's English requirements. The term basically implies that nonnative English speakers are deficient. Bilingual means that the person has the ability to communicate successfully in two languages, much like some of our college professors.Culturally and linguistically diverse as well as language minority can also include those who re already bilingual and in our community that would mean someone who speaks a language other than English since English is the majority language. Whenever I think of children with English language communication barriers, think more along the lines of 2nd generation children who are children born on American soil of immigrants. It also makes me think of the children of worker s who move frequently from one school to another as their parents search for jobs.English as a second language is a subject and not people although sometimes it is used to describe those students whose first language is not English. LOTT means language other than English which is commonly used to describe what languages students speak at home or in their community. As think of what some of these labels might mean for our community, I have come to the conclusion that most of the people in this community would probably not even know what half of the labels are and thus be confused and unsure of what to make of the meaning. How do schools define multilingualism?

Approaches to Health - 1526 Words

INTRODUCTION This report will be investigating the various sociological perspectives on health as well as the models and definitions of health and ill health. These topics will assist in the understanding of how different people and different cultures react to ill health. 1.1-CONTRASTING SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON HEALTH In modern society there is a general consensus that ‘good health’ is something that everyone wants to experience and that each individual knows what this involves. Because there are so many different definitions of health and ill health it can become a very complicated concept. Walsh (2011) states that â€Å"In sociological terms ‘health’ and ‘illness’ are contested concepts. This means that the general meaning of these words should not be taken for granted. Negative Definition of Health The negative model is based on the idea that health is the opposite of disease. The definition believes that disease is a biological state where the individual is afflicted by a physical condition or illness (Walsh, 2011: 325). It views the body as a machine that may malfunction at times, because for some reason or another, its parts have stopped working. The damage to these machine parts is the disease. It a health care professional’s role to identify these fault and repair them. This is based on medical intervention via drugs or surgery. 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