Thursday, April 28, 2011

Abortion: The death of the potential person

The last 6 months or so I have been researching the morality of abortion. My interest in the subject was peaked from some thinking I had done on the moral status of future persons, and animal rights; reasoning about the former seemed to have potential as the basis of an argument for the immorality of abortion. The latter touches on some moral intuitions I have about the rights of animals, and arguments against a social contract theory of morality. Additionally, apart from the appeal on an abstract level, the fact that one's position on abortion has an impact on the world that is not true of other philosophical arguments. So far, my research in the field hasn't proven to be productive in the manner that I expected. I thought there would more reasoning about the relationship between different qualities and how, or why, those qualities include/exclude things from moral consideration. What I have read so far, though admittedly small, has concentrated on our intuitions about either the right to life, or what kind of obligations are entailed by the right to life.

There are two lines of reasoning for the anti-abortion position that I am most familiar: the moral standing of life before conception, and the moral standing of life after conception. The argument I hear most frequently usually falls into the latter category, and those of the former are usually considered as a reductio ad absurdum. Now, there is good reason for looking at moral standing before conception argument as absurd. For my approach to the subject, I'll just make the strongest argument from the preconception position, then move to why it cannot ultimately support the anti-abortion position.

The preconceptionist (for lack of a better term) argues that people are destined to be born before the act of conception. If one prevents conception from taking place, that person is killing that child. Or, one might argue that we have an obligation to future generations to not intentionally harm them. If we prevent some people from being born, we have done those people the greatest harm. For example, if someone had the cure to cancer, and that person intentionally withheld the cure, he would be partially responsible for the pain inflicted on the people who would eventually develop cancer (at least those that he would have helped had he acted). Thus, those who prevent a person from being born harm the unborn through their actions (or lack thereof).

There are three principle objections to this line of reasoning. First, it is possible that the use of contraceptives, or an abortion, is predestined. Thus, choosing to not have a child, does not prevent someone from being born since the choice would be part of the overall plan. Further, if one can defy destiny by not having a child, it would be reasonable to infer that one could defy destiny by having a child. If acting against God's will is one's principle concern, both would be equally immoral. Some might object that God's will is always that, if a child can be born, he or she should be conceived. This objection will be dealt with in the third point.

Second, while it may be possible to harm one through inaction, a harm to someone that does not exist is incoherent. For example, it would be wrong to claim that someone who does not exist has cancer, and even more confused to further claim that, by not curing cancer, one has harmed the potential person. The immoral quality of associated with a harm occurs with the advent of that harm. Further, there is an assumption that the “harm” of not existing is worse than other possible harms. Many people could be born into situations such that it would be better had they not been born. For example, supposed a couple is trying to decide whether to have children. They come to learn that, if they have a child, there is 100% certainty that the child will be born with a severe genetic disorder. Not only would we say that the couple should not have the child, it would be wrong for them to have the child with that knowledge.

Third, a conclusion that abstaining from sex is equivalent to murder seems prima facie wrong. Most would say that a couple who decides to wait to have a child until they can afford it is doing the right thing. Additionally, if preventing potential people from being born is murder, then having a child would be also be murder. When a couple decides to have a child this means that they have decided not to have other children that they could have had at another time. Thus, the action would both be an act of murder and not at the same time. Such a conclusion does not answer whether one should have a child, or not, since every answer would be a wrong one.

These are the reasons why I decided that, if abortion is wrong, it isn't because we are doing a harm to potential persons. Next I'll explain the “at conception” arguments that have the most appeal and why I don't find them persuasive.

Keep the love,

Ryan

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Not Quite Factual: Political Rhetoric and Core Beliefs

The major news of the past week or so has been about the now infamous statement “[his claim about Plan Parenthood] was not intended to be a factual statement” by senator Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) in response to his claim that over 90% of the work done at Plan Parenthood are abortions. The major news outlets are responding that his response is indicative of the disproportionate attention that political commentators like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and pundits like them have received. They feel that these programs, and implicitly Fox News, have been sowing misinformation and political discord which has been negatively affecting the political process.

The two claims that have got my attention are that a) our political environment has become more partisan than it was in the past, and b) the production of misinformation is the source of this partisanship. Arguments about these claims have been circulating for some time. To my knowledge, claim (a) has not been disputed by either side. Rather, both sides claim that the other is responsible for elevating the intensity of the rhetoric and presenting false information.

The vitriol in politics, to my knowledge, is not new. When it comes to disagreements about a topic that many consider central to their system of belief the rhetoric around the debate can get quite ugly. The recent slump in the economy and various attempts to fix the problem have brought some people's opinions about the fiscal policies of the government to the forefront of the national debate. Money, even in less financially difficult times, is a subject that can break up friendships and marriages. It wouldn't be surprising that the intensity of the debate centers around the particular subject material, not the misinformation and spin produced by the political commentators. In short, there isn't a necessary relationship between the pundits and rogue news programs, and the dialogue between disagreeing parties.

These claims are such that it should be possible to empirically test them. Since there are different countries with relatively similar cultures, but with different news distributors, we could examine the dialogue in other countries and see whether the tone is different. While a different culture might be able to account for some variation between debate within the States and elsewhere, a similarity between these cultures would be indicative of problems with news production. We could also see what the effect of false information has been on a debate. By judging the polarizing effect of information and particular topic within a debate, we should be able to determine if the false information and rhetoric of pundits has a significant affect to a discussions tone.

Since I don't have the resources to do this research, a more conceptual approach to the problem will have to do for the time being. If people form their opinions and act on information received from a reliable source, arguments that use false information to support an argument for the hostile nature of the opposing side would create a more forceful opposition. After all, rallying people against the particular issue is what the argument is intended to do. Why continue to make the arguments if they don't persuade or motivate?

Some believe that people only reaffirm their beliefs, and turn a blind eye toward facts that might challenge the way they believe. As a result, all people do is motivate their base, but not change their frame of mind. While I agree that this does happen, I also believe that more people are open to changing what they believe than many might suspect. Not only do I consistently read about people who have changed what they believe in the face of new facts or good arguments, but I too have changed my mind a few times on important issues. Changing a firmly held belief is not a quick process, but it does happen.

Keep thinking,

Ryan

Friday, April 1, 2011

The Digital Market Place: Finding Work in a the Global Information Market

The Internet, in the relatively short amount of time that it has been around, has drastically changed the way people do business. Yet, we still haven't fully seen how it will effect the economy in the long term. I think that the future will favor the self-employed, or entrepreneurs. Early on we saw with Napster, and other file sharing programs, that the Internet has allowed for the reduction or elimination of information middle men. In print media, we have seen changes in news agencies, from the outright elimination of some news organizations to a shift to digital distribution for others, and even some self publishing of full books by others. In radio, we see competition with the easy availability of music through portable media players, Internet radio stations like Pandora eliminate the need for a DJ, and podcasting removes the need for the radio company. Finally, television companies, in addition to wrestling with piracy, must learn to accommodate the instant access of Netflix and Hulu.

This change in the accessibility of information provides an interesting dynamic for people entering into the market place. On the upside, self-employment through the production of some digital medium is cheaper than it ever has been, which means an increased competition among producers, and lower average revenues for one's efforts. The saturation of the market with blogs, for example, makes possible ad revenues in that market relatively small, even though there is a potentially large consumer base. In the end, while it is possible for people to make a living with a blog, podcasts, and/or internet videos, for most, these media will simply supplement one's income.


Best of Luck,
Ryan