MARQUIS ABORTION
PHI 180: Introduction to Ethics Reading & Study Questions for Unit 2: Ethical Theories
1 Explain Marquis's presentation of the "typical" anti-abortion argument.
1. Fetuses are living and human.
2. Humans have the right to live.
3. Fetuses have a right to life.
4. Women have a right to control their bodies.
5. The right to life is morally more important than the right to control one’s body.
6. Abortion places the right to control one’s body over the right to life.
Abortion is wrong.
Then explain his presentation of the "typical" pro-life argument.
1. Only persons have a right to life.
2. Persons have rational and other capacities that give them moral standing and rights.
3. Fetuses lack the rational and other capacities that define a person.
4. Fetuses lack a right to life.
5. Women are persons with the right to control their own bodies.
Women have the right to abortion.
In what respects are these arguments similar, according to Marquis?
2 Explain how Marquis critiques each of the "typical" arguments.
Critique of “Anti‐Abortion” Argument :
• Counterexample: cancerous tumors are human, but do not have a right to life
• The biological category “human” is too broad—it gives rights to things that should not have rights
Critique of “Pro‐Choice” Argument
• Counterexample: infants and small children are not persons, but do have a right to life
• The psychological category “person” is too narrow—it denies rights to things that should have rights
3 What, according to Marquis, makes killing wrong?
What makes killing morally wrong is that it has the consequence of depriving something of a FLO
Explain how Marquis argues that his explanation fits our intuitions about the wrongness of killing better than the stances in the "typical" arguments.
1. Extraterrestrial rational agents have moral standing
2. Nonhumans may have moral standing
3. Euthanasia may be morally permissible in some cases
4. Infants & young children
1 Explain Marquis's presentation of the "typical" anti-abortion argument.
1. Fetuses are living and human.
2. Humans have the right to live.
3. Fetuses have a right to life.
4. Women have a right to control their bodies.
5. The right to life is morally more important than the right to control one’s body.
6. Abortion places the right to control one’s body over the right to life.
Abortion is wrong.
Then explain his presentation of the "typical" pro-life argument.
1. Only persons have a right to life.
2. Persons have rational and other capacities that give them moral standing and rights.
3. Fetuses lack the rational and other capacities that define a person.
4. Fetuses lack a right to life.
5. Women are persons with the right to control their own bodies.
Women have the right to abortion.
In what respects are these arguments similar, according to Marquis?
2 Explain how Marquis critiques each of the "typical" arguments.
Critique of “Anti‐Abortion” Argument :
• Counterexample: cancerous tumors are human, but do not have a right to life
• The biological category “human” is too broad—it gives rights to things that should not have rights
Critique of “Pro‐Choice” Argument
• Counterexample: infants and small children are not persons, but do have a right to life
• The psychological category “person” is too narrow—it denies rights to things that should have rights
3 What, according to Marquis, makes killing wrong?
What makes killing morally wrong is that it has the consequence of depriving something of a FLO
Explain how Marquis argues that his explanation fits our intuitions about the wrongness of killing better than the stances in the "typical" arguments.
1. Extraterrestrial rational agents have moral standing
2. Nonhumans may have moral standing
3. Euthanasia may be morally permissible in some cases
4. Infants & young children