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Luck & moral responsibility + Metaphysics of maternal organism & foetus - Printable Version

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Luck & moral responsibility + Metaphysics of maternal organism & foetus - C C - Jul 29, 2017

How to tell a bad person from a person who did a bad thing
https://aeon.co/essays/how-to-tell-a-bad-person-from-a-person-who-did-a-bad-thing

EXCERPT: There is a contradiction in our ordinary ideas about moral responsibility. Let’s explore it by considering two examples. Killer, our first character, is at a party and drives home drunk. At a certain point in her journey, she swerves, hits the curb, and kills a pedestrian who was on the curb. Merely Reckless, our second character, is in every way exactly like Killer but, when she swerves and hits a curb, she kills no one. There wasn’t a pedestrian on the curb for her to kill. The difference between Killer and Merely Reckless is a matter of luck. Does Killer deserve more blame – that is, resentment and indignation – than Merely Reckless? Or, do Killer and Merely Reckless deserve the same degree of blame? We feel a pull to answer ‘yes’ to both questions. Let’s consider why...

MORE: https://aeon.co/essays/how-to-tell-a-bad-person-from-a-person-who-did-a-bad-thing



Is the mother a container for the foetus or is it part of her?
https://aeon.co/essays/is-the-mother-a-container-for-the-foetus-or-is-it-part-of-her

EXCERPT: [...] What, then, is the metaphysical relationship between the maternal organism and the foetus? One possible answer is that the foetus is a part of the maternal organism, just like the maternal organism’s organs and limbs are. Let us call this the parthood model. Another possible answer is that the maternal organism carries, or contains, the foetus, which is a distinct entity in its own right. Call this the container model. So which model is correct, and does it change throughout the pregnancy? This is not a mere matter of choice, nor an argument over the language we use to describe what is otherwise considered to be the same situation. Rather there is a fact of the matter to be found, and as we will see, the truth about the metaphysical relationship between the foetus and the maternal organism will have wide-reaching implications for our moral and legal practices regarding pregnancy. But before looking at such consequences, we shall next take a closer look at these two rival models of the metaphysics of pregnancy....

MORE: https://aeon.co/essays/is-the-mother-a-container-for-the-foetus-or-is-it-part-of-her


RE: Luck & moral responsibility + Metaphysics of maternal organism & foetus - Syne - Jul 30, 2017

(Jul 29, 2017 01:08 AM)C C Wrote: How to tell a bad person from a person who did a bad thing
https://aeon.co/essays/how-to-tell-a-bad-person-from-a-person-who-did-a-bad-thing
No, the salient difference is not luck. It is the actual action taken and the actual results. Yes, the actions can be the same...with different results. Equally, the results can be the same...from different actions. Where this article calls the existence of a pedestrian luck, a mechanical failure could have equally made the vehicle lurch to the curb. One death is obviously more blameworthy than the other...even where luck caused the same result from a blameless action.
Blame is firstly a matter of result, which is only ameliorated or aggravated by intent. It's a two-step process. We assign objective blame to the cause of an effect, and then we modify that blame according to our subjective view of intent.


Quote:Is the mother a container for the foetus or is it part of her?
https://aeon.co/essays/is-the-mother-a-container-for-the-foetus-or-is-it-part-of-her

EXCERPT: [...] What, then, is the metaphysical relationship between the maternal organism and the foetus? One possible answer is that the foetus is a part of the maternal organism, just like the maternal organism’s organs and limbs are. Let us call this the parthood model. Another possible answer is that the maternal organism carries, or contains, the foetus, which is a distinct entity in its own right. Call this the container model. So which model is correct, and does it change throughout the pregnancy? This is not a mere matter of choice, nor an argument over the language we use to describe what is otherwise considered to be the same situation. Rather there is a fact of the matter to be found, and as we will see, the truth about the metaphysical relationship between the foetus and the maternal organism will have wide-reaching implications for our moral and legal practices regarding pregnancy. But before looking at such consequences, we shall next take a closer look at these two rival models of the metaphysics of pregnancy....

MORE: https://aeon.co/essays/is-the-mother-a-container-for-the-foetus-or-is-it-part-of-her

I've never heard of anyone asserting "a more conservative stance that advocates both anti-surrogacy and anti-abortion", although I could easily believe the inconsistency of "a more progressive stance that advocates both pro-surrogacy and pro-abortion".

The science if clear. It is a human life with distinct DNA.