AppliedPhilosophy(GS F312)/dr.

AnoopGeorge/BitsPilaniGoa

Applied Philosophy notes

ABORTION:

Definition: Abortion is the premature termination of a pregnancy that is, termination prior to
birth.
There are two kinds of Abortions: Spontaneous Abortion: It is same as a miscarriage and
Induced abortion: It is caused by the woman herself or by another, usually a medical doctor.

In India abortion is legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy under condition such as risk to mothers
life, mental health etc. and risk on the unborn child.

THE ABORTION PROBLEM:

There are serious issues concerning abortion: first of all on the principle of life itself, the life of
the unborn child and also the danger to the mothers own life. Another important concern about
abortion is the Principle of Individual freedom. A woman has all rights over her body, and so
why should there be rules to dictate what she should do about her body? Yet another concern
about abortion is the question of the beginning of human life. When does human life begin, and
at what point is it to be valued and protected to the same extent as the lives of human beings who
already have been born? Another important concern is the Absolute rights of the conceptus (the
developing Human being until birth). Does a conceputs or the fetus, which is an individual life
organism, got any freedom to be alive? This is also an important anti-abortion (pro-life) position.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST ABORTION:

1. The Genetic view of the Beginning of human life:

Primary question to be asked here is: When Does Human Life Begin? Is Abortion taking of
human life? According to this view, human life starts at conception; that is, as soon as the
chromosomes from the sperm of the father and the ovum of the mother are united, then a human
being exists which must be valued in the same way as if she or he were already born. The basis
for this argument is that because a persons genetic make-up is established, at conception, and
because, one established, it programs the creation of a unique individual, therefore the human
being exists from the point of conception onward and must be valued as a human life.

2. The sanctity or value of life argument:

It argues that every unborn, innocent child must be regarded as a human person with all the
rights of a human person from the moment of conception onward. This argument states that the
fetus not only has a right to life, but also that his or her right is absolute. This means that it
overrides all other rights that might come into conflict with it, such as a womens right to decide
between her own life and the life of her fetus is her pregnancy is complicated in some way.

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ARGUMENTS FOR ABORTION:

1. Absolute rights of women over their own bodies:

The central argument for this position is that women, like men, should have absolute rights over
their own bodies, including procreative rights. In the past, women, because of an accident of
nature the fact that they are the ones who get pregnant have not shared in these equal rights,
but now that the birth control is possible, they can. These rights must also include abortion,
which is, according to this argument, just another method of birth control that is used when other
methods fail or have not been used. To carry this argument one step further, any conceptus
(fetus) is a part of a womans body until it is born; therefore, she has absolute say over whether it
should continue to live in that body and whether it will be allowed to be born.

2. Birth as a beginning of human life:

The pro-choice point of view assumes that until a child is actually born, human life does not
exist, at least not to the extent that the coneputs should have the same rights as people who have
already been born. Hence only after birth a human life has value and dignity.

3. The problem of unwanted or deformed children

This argument states that given present-day conditions overpopulation, pollution problems, and
economic difficulties only children who are planned for and really wanted should be born, and
abortion makes this possible

4. Adoption as a poor solution;

According to the pro-choice advocates, adoption is not as viable an alternative as the pro-life
forces describe. First of all, even if a woman agrees to put her child up for adoption after it is
born, she still has to go through nine months of pregnancy, which will hamper her freedom and
life a great deal. Second, it is much more difficult both physically and psychologically, to go
through pregnancy and give a child up for adoption than it is to have a fetus aborted before it is
born. Thirdly adoptive children often feel rejected when they discover that their natural mothers
gave them up. Often they go in search of their natural parents regardless of the love and quality
of their adoptive parents and homes.

Abortion and Responsibility:

The issue of abortion needs to be looked at from the point of responsibility. Every individual
should be responsible for once own actions especially in line with once own sexuality. We
should be aware that actions do have consequences and one should take up responsibility for the
consequences. Again responsibly is on both the parties. Many pro-life supporters argue that
abortion is the result of absolute selfishness, and Mother Teresa has rightly said: it is a
poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.

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JUSTICE AND EQUALITY

The concept of Justice has both Moral and political nuances. The word comes from the Latin jus,
meaning right or law. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the just person as one who
typically does what is morally right and is disposed to giving everyone his or her due.
Justice ensures that all members of society receive fair treatment. Justice plays a significant role
in causing, perpetuating, and addressing conflict. Just institutions tend to instill a sense of
stability, well-being, and satisfaction among society. Injustices can lead to dissatisfaction,
rebellion, or revolution.

Types of Justice: Distribute Justice or economic justice is concerned with giving all members
of society a fair share of the benefits and resources available. It emphasizes the question of fair
share, Equity, Equality and Need. Equity means that ones rewards should be equal to ones
contributions to a society. Equality means that everyone gets the same amount, regardless of
their input. Distribution on the basis of need means that people who need more will get more,
while people who need less will get less.

Retributive justice: It is the idea that people deserve to be treated in the same way as they treat
others. The central idea is that the offender has gained unfair advantages through his or her
behavior, and that punishment will set this imbalance straight.

John Rawls book A Theory of Justice is an effort to define social justice. The work has greatly
influenced modern political thought. Rawls considers Justice as Fairness. In his theory Rawls
talks about the original position. Original position is a central feature of John Rawlss social
contract account of justice. Original position is designed to be a fair and impartial point of view
that is to be adopted in our reasoning about fundamental principles of justice. In the original
position one has to imagine that you are the least advantaged member of the society. In this
scenario, freedom and equality could possibly coexist. In this imaginary society, one might or
might not be intelligent, rich, or born into a preferred class. In taking up this point of view, we
are to imagine ourselves in the position of free and equal persons who jointly agree upon and
commit themselves to principles of social and political justice. The main distinguishing feature
of the original position is the veil of ignorance: to insure impartiality of judgment, the parties
are deprived of all knowledge of their personal characteristics and social and historical
circumstances. They do know of certain fundamental interests they all have, plus general facts
about psychology, economics, biology, and other social and natural sciences. The parties in the
original position are presented with a list of the main conceptions of justice drawn from the
tradition of social and political philosophy, and are assigned the task of choosing from among
these alternatives the conception of justice that best advances their interests in establishing
conditions that enable them to effectively pursue their final ends and fundamental interests.

Rawls contends that the most rational choice for the parties in the original position are two
principles of justice:

1. The right of each person to have the most extensive basic liberty compatible with the liberty of
others.

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2. The second principle states that social and economic positions are to be (a) to everyones
advantage and (b) open to all.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

The concept of punishmentits definitionand its practical application and justification during
the past half-century have shown a marked drift away from efforts to reform and rehabilitate
offenders in favor of retribution and incarceration. Punishment in its very conception is now
acknowledged to be an inherently retributive practice, whatever may be the further role of
retribution as a justification or goal of punishment. A liberal justification of punishment would
proceed by showing that society needs the threat and the practice of punishment, because the
goal of social order cannot be achieved otherwise and because it is unfair to expect victims of
criminal aggression to bear the cost of their victimization. Constraints on the use of threatened
punishments are of course necessary, given the ways in which authority and power can be
abused.

THEORIES OF PUNISHMENT:

Retributive Theory of Punishment

This theory is better known by the principle The eye for an eye. Retributive theory of
punishment is considered to be the most stringent form of punishment where it tries to end the
crime in itself. The serious concern of this theory is that it underlines the idea of vengeance and
revenge rather than that of social welfare and security. Punishment of the offender provides some
kind of solace to the victim or to the family members of the victim of the crime, who has
suffered out of the action of the offender and prevents reprisals from them to the offender or his
family. The only reason for keeping the offender in prison under unpleasant circumstances would
be the vengeful pleasure of sufferer and his family. Traditional retributism relied on punishing
the intrinsic value of the offence and thus resort to very harsh methods.

Deterrent Theory of Punishment:

One of the primitive methods of punishments believes in the fact that if severe punishments were
inflicted on then the offender would deter him from repeating that crime. Those who commit a
crime, it is assumed, derive a mental satisfaction or a feeling of enjoyment in the act. To
neutralize this inclination of the mind, punishment inflicts equal quantum of suffering on the
offender so that it is no longer attractive for him to carry out such committal of crimes. In social
life punishment introduces the element of pain to correct the excess action of a person carried
out by the impulse (pleasure) of his mind. In reality pain, threat or challenges actually
strengthens and purifies a man and so an organization.

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Reformative Theory of Punishment:

The ultimate goal of reformation (rehabilitation) is to restore a convicted offender to a

constructive place in society through some combination of treatment, education, and training.
The most recent and the most humane of all theories is based on the principle of reforming the
legal offenders through individual treatment. Not looking to criminals as inhuman this theory
puts forward the changing nature of the modern society where it presently looks into the fact that
all other theories have failed to put forward any such stable theory, which would prevent the
occurrence of further crimes. Though it may be true that there has been a greater onset of crimes
today than it was earlier, but it may also be argued that many of the criminals are also getting
reformed and leading a law-abiding life all-together. Jails, prisons, and other institutions of
incapacitation and now renames as correctional facilities, reformatories, and therapeutic
community etc.

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Acknowledgements:
1. Peter Singer, A Companion to Ethics, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1993
2. A Companion to Applied Ethics, Edited by R. G. Frey, and Christopher Heath Wellman, Blackwell Publishing. 2003.
3. Tibor R. Machan, A Primer on Ethics. 1997.
4. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.