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Entries Tagged as 'Abortion'

No Tears for George Tiller

June 4th, 2009 44 Comments

Since hearing of the murder of abortionist George Tiller I have been wanting to find some way to express my thoughts on the matter as while I am not sad that Tiller is dead, I do support the prosecution of his killer. Philosopher Ed Feser’s post, “Two monsters,” where he contrasts the murder of Tiller [...]

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Is Abortion Liberal?

May 16th, 2009 22 Comments

A submission to The Christian Libertarian Blog Carnival. Laws permitting abortion on demand are often deemed to be liberal. Political liberals are frequently ardent defenders of such laws. My contention is that support for abortion on the grounds of liberality is mistaken. I argue for this position in a two part series: Is Abortion Liberal? [...]

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Response to Richard Chappell’s "Pro-Life Pro Zombie"

April 22nd, 2009 5 Comments

Thialias has asked me to respond to “Pro-Life Pro Zombie” written by kiwi ex-pat philosopher Richard Chappell, the author of Philosophy et cetera. In this post Richard, as I understand it, set up a thought experiment where he asked readers to imagine a world where beings exist that are physically identical to us in every [...]

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Published: Abortion and Capital Punishment UPDATED

April 21st, 2009 13 Comments

Heh! I just discovered on Cambridge Journals that my publication for the Spring 2009 edition of Think: A Journal of the Royal Institute for Philosophy is online. You can download the pdf here, Abortion and Capital Punishment: A Response to Beverly Harrison. UPDATE: As some people are having trouble with the direct link to the [...]

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The Foundations of the Alexandrian Argument against Feticide Part VI

April 16th, 2009 3 Comments

This post marks the conclusion in my series on The Alexandrian Argument. Having addressed whether Exodus 21:22-25 deals with a miscarriage or premature birth, whether the harm mentioned in verses 22 and 23 refers to the woman or the fetus and whether the punishments in the relevant clauses are qualitatively different, I will return to [...]

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The Foundations of the Alexandrian Argument against Feticide Part V

April 15th, 2009 7 Comments

Having previously addressed whether causing the death of a woman is a capital offence, I will now examine how Exodus 21:22-25 views feticide. Is Feticide Condemned as a Minor OffenceHarrison argues that the reference to a fine in v 22 suggests that the law considers feticide did “not constitute a major crime at that time”.[1] [...]

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The Foundations of the Alexandrian Argument against Feticide Part IV

April 13th, 2009 No Comments

See the previous posts beginning here for the context that this post falls in. In this post I will address whether the punishments outlined in Exodus 21:22-25 are qualitatively different beginning with whether the death of the woman is a capital offence. In my next post I will ask if the text considers feticide a [...]

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The Foundations of the Alexandrian Argument against Feticide Part III

April 11th, 2009 3 Comments

This is the next installment in my series examining whether the Septuagint (LXX) translation of Exodus 21:22-25 is a mistranslation of the Hebrew Masoretic Text (MT). See the previous posts beginning here for the context that this post falls in.Is the Harm to the Woman or the Fetus?The RSV renders the word ason> in v [...]

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The Foundations of the Alexandrian Argument against Feticide Part II

April 9th, 2009 9 Comments

In my previous post I gave a brief introduction to The Alexandrian Argument against feticide and noted Harrison’s claim that this argument is based on a mistranslation of the Hebrew by the LXX. In this post I will look at whether the passage refers to a miscarriage. Does the Case Deal with a Miscarriage?The RSV [...]

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The Foundations of the Alexandrian Argument against Feticide Part I

April 8th, 2009 2 Comments

Implicit, if not overtly explicit, in much historic Christian moral reflection on feticide is a simple three-premise position. Firstly, that there is a divine law prohibiting homicide, the killing of a human being without adequate justification; secondly, a formed conceptus, a fetus, is a human being; and thirdly, that in all or most cases of [...]

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