[lbo-talk] Catholicism, was Re: blacks about as morally conservative as Republicans

Michael Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
Sat Dec 13 09:23:25 PST 2008


On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 22:30:53 -0800 (PST) "B." <docile_body at yahoo.com> wrote:


> The attitude of your argument seems to be the very Catholic one of, "You had sex, so now, ha, pay the consequences."

I don't think I was making an argument -- I certainly didn't intend to. I certainly wasn't making *that* one.

What I was commenting on was what seems to me the curious weakness of Thompson's argument.

As a moral matter, I don't think one would entitled to deprive the cointubated violinist in Thompson's scenario of the means of life, even if it meant nine months of proximity to a violinist -- horrors. (I'd definitely pull the plug if she insisted on practicing, though.)

However, I do think a pregnant woman is entitled to abort if she wants to. If I accept Thomspon's argument, then I'm being inconsistent. But to me the cases seem quite different.

I'm not enough of a moral philosopher to articulate where the difference lies. But I don't think we ought to give up the difference, as Thompson does or seems to.

--

Michael Smith mjs at smithbowen.net http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org



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