scholarly journals 從墮胎問題看權利觀點的局限

2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-38
Author(s):  
Kam Por YU
Keyword(s):  
Pregnant Woman ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Reflective Equilibrium ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Ideal Solution ◽  
The West ◽  
Sanctity Of Life ◽  
Pro Life ◽  
Pro Choice

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.本文旨在突出儒家倫理觀與西方立足於個人權利的道德觀在墮胎問題上的重大差別，論證儒家的觀點有助於求取一個比較合理及持平的結論。儒家既肯定生命之價值，不會贊成基於個人一時好惡而選擇墮胎；但在儒家的價值系統中，除了人的生命有價值之外，尚有其他重要的價值。一時的困難並不構成良好的墮胎理由，但人格的尊嚴及對家族的責任則有可能構成好的理由。This essay examines the shortcomings and limitations of the rights-based approach to the problem of abortion, and explores Confucianism as an alternative in providing a theoretical framework for handling that problem. It mainly focuses on the downside of the rights-based approach and the upside of the Confucian approach.I begin by examining the major arguments of the pro-life and pro-choice camps, and argue that they have many things in common. The arguments have similar structures and some common assumptions, and they are both framed predominantly in the language of rights. The arguments lead to extreme positions, either regarding abortion as a wrong comparable to murder or regarding it as a personal matter of the pregnant woman.I argue that both positions have unpalatable implications. According to the pro-life arguments, abortion would be wrong even in cases where the fetus is the result of rape or incest, as the fetus should not have less right to life than otherwise. According to the pro-choice arguments, it would be right for a woman to become pregnant intentionally, in order to generate fetus’ tissues to be sold for use, say, in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Such a strong claim on the self-determination of one’s body can justify abortion for almost any reason, such as going for a pre-arranged trip or selecting the sex of the child.The two arguments when put together also have counter-intuitive implications. If we take the arguments of both sides seriously, the ideal solution is to respect the rights of the fetus and the pregnant woman at the same time. If the fetus can be removed from the womb without being killed and supported to grow by artificial means in a hospital after being removed from the womb, then the conflict of rights can be resolved. The fact that this “ideal” solution is far from ideal implies that there is something very wrong with the rights-based approach to abortion.In contrast, the predominant view in Chinese society on abortion is more moderate and sensible – regarding abortion as definitely a bad thing, but not a very big evil. According to the Confucian view, morality is not something absolute like the commandments of God or some objective universal principles discovered by the use of reason, but something constructed by humans (the sages) on the basis of human nature, human needs, and human sentiments. It agrees neither with the religious view in the West which holds the doctrine of the sanctity of life nor with the secular view in the West which holds that life may have positive or negative value depending on contingent facts.There are two basic characteristics of the Confucian outlook. First, human life definitely has positive value, but it does not have absolute value, and there may be other more important value that can override it. Second, morality is a human construct on the basis of human nature, human need, and human sentiment. Hence, a morality that is too demanding or too difficult to practice cannot be a reasonable or acceptable morality.Such an outlook has meaningful implications for the problem of abortion. Abortion is regarded as something to be avoided, but prohibiting, punishing, or censuring abortion is a morally more inferior option than supporting the pregnant woman for opting out of abortion. The Confucian perspective provides a more reasonable framework than the rights-based approach to the problem of abortion. It can strike a better balance (reflective equilibrium) between moral outlook and specific moral judgments (as in the case of abortion). The implied specific judgments are more moderate and reasonable. Using abortion as a test case, the Confucian approach can be considered as a more reasonable and acceptable approach than the rights-based approach.DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 605 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.

scholarly journals Quale etica nasce dalla cultura della paura?

2011 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlo V. Bellieni
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Pro Life ◽  
Pro Choice ◽  
Life Movement

In questo articolo l’autore porta argomenti alla tesi che alla base della cultura antagonista al rispetto totale per la vita umana non vi sia innanzi tutto un positivo credo, ma una reazione personale dettata da paura e solitudine, che trova nel credo utilitaristico postmodernista solo una giustificazione e sistematizzazione. Nata come reazione alla paura e alla solitudine, la filosofia relativistica postmoderna genera poi la posizione “pro-choice” come sua applicazione popolare. Paura e solitudine possono tuttavia arrivare a rendere meno limpido anche il campo del sostegno della vita umana, se lo svuotano delle ragioni umane e filosofiche da cui origina. ---------- The foundation of the culture that antagonizes the total respect for human life are not primarily positive beliefs, but fear and loneliness, that in postmodern utilitarism only find shield and systematization. Utilitarism then generates pro-choice culture as a popular application. Nevertheless, fear and loneliness can make less limpid the field of pro-life movement, if undermine its human and moral bases.

scholarly journals WALTER BLOCK vs JAKUB BOZYDAR WISNIEWSKI DEBATING ABORTION: A SUMMARY

MEST Journal ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-30
Author(s):  
Anthony Cesario
Keyword(s):  
Pregnant Woman ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Private Property Rights ◽  
The One ◽  
Pro Life ◽  
Pro Choice

Without a doubt, one of the most controversial issues currently being debated is abortion. Several decades ago, philosopher and economist Walter Block offered a compromise of the seemingly uncompromisable problem based on libertarian principles, which he called evictionism. Evictionism is based on the theory of self-ownership and the implications that follow, which are the non-aggression principle and private property rights. It is a principled compromise between the traditional pro-life and pro-choice positions. According to evictionism, it would not be illegal for a pregnant woman to evict a fetus at any time for any reason because she is the one who owns her womb, but it would be illegal for her to kill the fetus unnecessarily once it’s viable. This means that before viability, an eviction that necessarily results in the death of the fetus would be legal. After viability, however, an eviction that unnecessarily results in the death of a fetus would be considered murder and consequently illegal. Unfortunately, though, very few people have heard of this compromise. What’s worse of those who have heard of it, even fewer have been convinced by it. Consequently, there have been several written debates between Block and his critics about their perceived problems with his proposed compromise. The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed summary of one of the first main debates that Block has had on the topic.

scholarly journals Unraveling the Metaphysical, Epistemological, and Ethical Elements of Oromo Proverbs

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Chemeda Bokora
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Human Life ◽  
External World ◽  
Central Point ◽  
Global Knowledge ◽  
The West ◽  
The Universe

Long ago the external world (most prominent among which is the west) had excommunicated African mind from the realm/ treasure of reasoned knowledge. According to Hegel, Hume, Kant, and others, for any thought (about human life, about knowledge and truth, good and bad, right and wrong, mind and matter; about human nature and the universe we inhabit) to count as reasoned knowledge it must be subject to writing. African philosophers like Hountondji, Appiah, Bondurin, etc. have also expounded that individualist element, the main or only yardstick of reasoned knowledge, as they have put it, is missing in the traditional genre of thought. Apiece of these characterizations are unfair as they have indisputably tried to discredit the thoughtful knowledge built on oral tradition. The central point in this article, therefore, is unraveling the practical reasoned knowledge exhibited in the traditional genre of thought. The aspiration is partly alluded to the task of being informative about the place of Oromo society and, by extension, traditional African thought in the realm of global knowledge. This is done by closely examining the metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical elements embedded in some proverbs of the Oromo.

scholarly journals The Enduring Greatness: The Mahāpuruşha Paradigm—An Indian Perspective

2021 ◽  
pp. 002216782110008
Author(s):  
Maharaj K. Raina
Keyword(s):  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Human Spirit ◽  
Positive Direction ◽  
Indian Tradition ◽  
Indian Perspective ◽  
Relative Concept ◽  
The Way

Greatness, a relative concept, has been historically approached in different ways. Considering greatness of character as different from greatness of talents, some cultures have conceptualized greatness as an expression of human spirit leading to transcending existing patterns and awakening inner selves to new levels of consciousness, rising above times and circumstances, and to change the direction of human tide. Individuals characterized by such greatness working with higher selves, guided by moral and ethical imperatives, and possessing noble impulses of human nature are considered to be manifesting spiritual greatness. Examining such greatness is the goal of this article. Keeping Indian tradition in focus, this article has studied how greatness has been conceptualized in that particular tradition and the way in which life and times have shaped great individuals called Mahāpuruşha who exhibited extraordinary moral responsibility relentlessly in pursuit of their visions of addressing contemporary major issues and changing the direction of human life. Four Mahāpuruşha, who possessed such enduring greatness and excelled in their thoughts and actions to give a new positive direction to human life, have been profiled in this article. Suggestions have also been made for studies on moral and spiritual excellence to help realize our true human path and purpose.

scholarly journals Ethos in Early Chinese Rhetoric: The Case of “Heaven”

Humanities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Yong-Kang Wei
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
The West ◽  
Chinese Tradition ◽  
Rhetorical Tradition ◽  
Chinese Rhetoric ◽  
Human Desire ◽  
Collective Ethos ◽  
The Universe

Though applicable in many Western historical-cultural settings, the Aristotelian model of ethos is not universal. As early Chinese rhetoric shows in the example of cheng-yan or “ethos of sincereness,” inspiring trust does not necessarily involve a process of character-based self-projection. In the Aristotelian model, the rhetor stands as a signifier of ethos, with an ideology of individualism privileged, whereas Chinese rhetoric assumes a collectivist model in which ethos belongs, not to an individual or a text, but rather to culture and cultural tradition. This essay will be concentrating on the concept of Heaven, central to the cultural and institutional systems of early Chinese society, in an attempt to explore collective ethos as a function of cultural heritage. Heaven, it shall be argued, plays a key role in the creation of Chinese ethos. This essay will also contrast the logocentrism of Western rhetorical tradition with the ethnocentrism of Chinese tradition. The significance of Heaven in its role as a defining attribute of Chinese ethos is reflective of a unique cultural heritage shaped by a collective human desire in seeking a consciousness of unity with the universe. Just as there are historical, cultural, and philosophical reasons behind logocentrism in the West, so the ethnocentric turn of Chinese rhetoric should be appreciated in light of a cultural tradition that carries its own historical complexities and philosophical intricacies.

Before Reagan: The Development of Abortion’s Partisan Divide

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1031-1047
Author(s):  
Neil A. O’Brian
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
The Political ◽  
Mass Public ◽  
Pro Life ◽  
Pro Choice

What explains the alignment of antiabortion positions within the Republican party? I explore this development among voters, activists, and elites before 1980. By 1970, antiabortion attitudes among ordinary voters correlated with conservative views on a range of noneconomic issues including civil rights, Vietnam, feminism and, by 1972, with Republican presidential vote choice. These attitudes predated the parties taking divergent abortion positions. I argue that because racial conservatives and military hawks entered the Republican coalition before abortion became politically activated, issue overlap among ordinary voters incentivized Republicans to oppose abortion rights once the issue gained salience. Likewise, because proabortion voters generally supported civil rights, once the GOP adopted a Southern strategy, this predisposed pro-choice groups to align with the Democratic party. A core argument is that preexisting public opinion enabled activist leaders to embed the anti (pro) abortion movement in a web of conservative (liberal) causes. A key finding is that the white evangelical laity’s support for conservative abortion policies preceded the political mobilization of evangelical leaders into the pro-life movement. I contend the pro-life movement’s alignment with conservatism and the Republican party was less contingent on elite bargaining, and more rooted in the mass public, than existing scholarship suggests.

Pro-Life or Pro-Choice? Humanistic Buddhists’ Voices Surrounding Abortion in Contemporary Taiwan

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-80
Author(s):  
Grace Cheng-Ying Lin
Keyword(s):  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Buddhist Philosophy ◽  
Reproductive Politics ◽  
Discursive Analysis ◽  
The People ◽  
The Law ◽  
Humanistic Buddhism ◽  
Pro Life ◽  
Pro Choice

In Taiwan, abortion was legalized in 1984. This paper examines the voices surrounding abortion expressed by monasteries in Humanistic Buddhism, a prominent Buddhist philosophy practiced in modern Taiwan. Humanistic Buddhism emphasizes that it is a “religion of the people.” However, in addition to the law of karma and causality, the value of all life forms is prioritized based on the ethics of “non-harming (ahimsā).” When some monasteries insist that abortion is killing, resulting in karmic retribution, some express sympathy with a woman’s decision to abort. When some monasteries promote a newly popularized ritual to appease aborted fetuses, some are keenly critical of the exploitation of women and manipulation of scriptures. Through a discursive analysis, this paper demonstrates the wide spectrum of Buddhist narratives in response to reproductive politics embedded in the conflicts between modernity and tradition, as well as locality and globality.

Law and biomedicine

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatima Comartova ◽  
Andrey Pomazanskiy ◽  
Elena Nikitina ◽  
Saria Nanba ◽  
Timur Mel'nik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Theoretical Development ◽  
Social Orientation ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Global Problems ◽  
Biomedical Technologies

The rapid development of modern biomedicine creates both hopes for solving global problems of humanity, and risks associated with the enormous potential of its impact on human nature. In this regard, the processes of development and application of biomedical technologies need timely and adequate legal regulation that defines the boundaries of biotechnological intervention in human life. This publication is devoted to the theoretical development of general legal approaches to the essence, content, social orientation and the main industry features of the regulation of relations in the field of biomedicine, which would allow to form a special legal regulation in this area. For researchers, teachers, postgraduates, students, practicing lawyers, employees of public authorities.

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