Moral disagreement concerning abortion

• Authors: Bernard Gert
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

I use the example of abortion to show that there are some unresolvable moral disagreements. I list four sources of unresolvable moral disagreement: 1) differences in the rankings of the basic evils of death, pain, disability, loss of freedom, and loss of pleasure, 2) differences in the interpretation of moral rules, 3) ideological differences in the view of human nature and human societies, and 4) differences concerning who is impartially protected by the moral rules. It is this last difference that is the source of unresolvable disagreement concerning the moral acceptability of abortion. I examine the views of Don Marquis and Mary Ann Warren who present opposing arguments concerning the moral acceptability of abortion. I show that their failure to take account of this last difference leads to flaws in their arguments that show that neither has been successful in showing that their position is the uniquely correct one. This paper is a revision of Chapter 3, "Moral Disagreement", of Bioethics: A Systematic Approach, Oxford University Press, 2006, by Bernard Gert, Charles M. Culver, and K. Danner Clouser, (Polish translation, stowo/obraz terytoria, 2009, Bioetyka. Ujecie systematyczne, translated by Marek Chojnacki) and of "Moral Disagreement and Abortion" Australian Journal of Professional and Applied Ethics Volume 6, Number 1, June 2004 by Bernard Gert.

• Publisher: Instytut Filozofii - Uniwersytet Jagielloński
• Journal: Diametros
• Year: 2010
• Issue: 26
• Pages: 23-43

Contributors

author

Bernard Gert

• University of North Carolina

References

• Bernat, Gert, Mogielnicki [1993] – J. Bernat, B. Gert and R.P. Mogielnicki, Patient refusal of hydration and nutrition. An alternative to physician assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia, “Archives of Internal Medicine” (153) 1993: 2723-2728.
• Feinberg, Dwyer [1997] – The Problem of Abortion, Joel Feinberg and Susan Dwyer (ed.), 3rd ed., Belmont, Calif. 1997.
• Rawls [1971] – John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, Harvard University Press, Cambridge 1971.
• Thomson [1997] – Judith Jarvis Thomson, A defense of abortion, [in:] The Problem of Abortion, Joel Feinberg and Susan Dwyer (ed.), 3rd ed., Wadsworth, Belmont, Calif. 1997: 59-74.

Identifiers

DOI

10.13153/diam.26.2010.413