This is the first section of the paper I presented to the the Evangelical Philosophical Society Annual Meeting in Milwaukee two weeks ago. Several people have asked me to post it on MandM. It will appear as a two-part post series. Christian theism has traditionally taught that human beings have equal dignity and worth, a moral [...]
Entries Tagged as 'David Boonin'
Peter Singer on Human Dignity and Infanticide: Part One
December 5th, 2012 14 Comments
Tags: David Boonin · Evangelical Philosophical Society · Human Dignity · Infanticide · Milwaukee · Peter Singer
Abortion and the Morality of Feticide: Part II
February 16th, 2011 155 Comments
In my last post, Abortion and the Morality of Feticide: Part I, I briefly sketched an argument against feticide, [1] It is wrong to kill a human being without justification; [2] A fetus is a human being; [3] In the case of feticide (at least in the majority of cases) insufficient or no justification is forthcoming. [...]
Tags: Abortion · David Boonin · David Oderberg · Ethics · Ethics and Medicine · Feticide · John Locke · Michael Tooley · Peter Singer · Susan Sherwin
Abraham, Isaac, Virginity, Rape and Child Killing (Another Old Testament Ethics Post)
January 23rd, 2011 88 Comments
Randal Rauser has published a blog post touching on Old Testament ethics called “An update in the wake of Atlanta (plus a bit on rape and child killing)“. His post gives an update on his thoughts following his interaction with Paul Copan, Richard Hess and myself in the Evangelical Philosophical Society’s break-out panel discussion “Is Yahweh [...]
Tags: Abraham and Isaac · David Boonin · Don Marquis · Evangelical Philosophical Society · Homicide · John Hare · Michael Tooley · Old Testament Ethics · Paul Copan · Peter Singer · Randal Rauser · Richard Hess · Society of Biblical Literature
Contra Mundum: Confessions of an Anti-Choice Fanatic
January 5th, 2010 76 Comments
If current media is to be believed opposition to legal abortion comes from misogynist fundamentalist fanatics who want to impose their religious mores onto others. This string of pejorative terms is amusing; however, it does not actually address the more crucial question of whether laws against feticide (the killing of a fetus) are just. I [...]
Tags: Abortion · Contra Mundum · David Boonin · Feticide · Investigate Magazine · Peter Singer · Selection
Does Abortion Benefit the Fetus? A Critique of Himma Part 2
December 24th, 2009 7 Comments
In my previous post, Does Abortion Benefit the Fetus? A Critique of Himma Part 1, I discussed Kenneth Einar Himma’s argument that even if a fetus is a human being, laws permitting feticide are compatible with the harm principle.I elaborated an important objection to Himma’s argument, an objection articulated by Mark Murphy, which appeals to [...]
Tags: Abortion · Augustine · David Boonin · Eschatology · Feticide · Infanticide · Kenneth Einar Himma · Lalia Williamson · Mark Murphy
Boonin’s Defense of the Sentience Criterion: A Critique Part II
July 16th, 2009 No Comments
In Boonin’s Defense of the Sentience Criterion: A Critique Part I, I noted that a defender of the permissibility of feticide, who does not also want to endorse infanticide and who defends the sentience criterion, must “identify a reason for holding that the potential of a human brain is morally relevant after” the fetus acquires [...]
Tags: Abortion · David Boonin · Don Marquis · Ethics and Medicine · Feticide · Sentience
Boonin’s Defense of the Sentience Criterion: A Critique Part I
July 15th, 2009 2 Comments
This two-part series was originally published as: Matthew Flannagan “Boonin’s Defense of the Sentience Criterion: A Critique” Ethics and Medicine – An International Journal of Bioethics Vol 25:2 (Summer 2009) 95-106. It is reproduced on this blog with permission. Abstract Defenders of the permissibility of feticide commonly argue that killing an organism is not homicide [...]
Tags: Abortion · David Boonin · Don Marquis · Ethics and Medicine · Feticide · Sentience
