Lecture 1 Article Notes:Moral Philosophy – study of right and wrong1. Applied ethicsa. Determine the right action in specific cases - - consulting intuition2. Ethical theorya. Figuring out which action is right and which is wrong in a specific caseusing theoriesb. Consistent set of moral principles, allowing us to derive an answer for applied ethics3. Metaethics a. Makeup of ethical theoriesb. “What does good mean?”Ethical TheoriesUtilitarianism:- Consequentialist theorieso Reviewing consequences of actions to assess morality of action- Best possible outcome: maximize happiness, minimize sufferingDeontological Theories:- Based on rules- In terms of rights each person is entitledo What are the rights?o Where do the rights come from?- Contractualismo Morality: we all agree to treat each other in a way to benefit us all “Social Contract Theory”o Things without mental ability to sign contract do not have rightsVirtue Ethics:- To act morally, act the way virtuous people doLecture:- Killing innocent person is wrong. - Abortion is killing innocent person.Conclusion: abortion is wrong.--use of person is used differently- what does it mean to be a person?- is fetus a person?Abortion Debate:1. Personhood2. Killing vs. letting die3. Overriding rightsa. Right of mother vs. right of fetusb. Mother’s right overrides fetus’ rights1. Applied Ethicsa. Particular cases, determine whether a particular action is right or wrongb. Gut feeling 2. Ethical Theorya. Moral theories to give answers about applied ethicsb. Utilitarianismi. Produces most goodc. Deontalogy theoriesi. Based on rules and rightsLecture 2PojmanAbortion: A Defense of the Personhood ArgumentSlippery slope- Discover a line separating a person from a nonperson- Fetal life vs self conscious human lifeLiberal Position: morally permissible for a woman to have an abortionSubjectivism: Radical Relativism- Abortion is private. Law should not enter- “victimless crime” = abortion- morality is matter of individual choice- counter argument: killing innocent people. Engaged in mass killings. Absolute Right to Privacy- woman has right to her own body, fetus is dependent- counter argument: once voluntarily engage in sex, they are engaged in thelottery game… pregnancy may result. If fetus is a person, woman cannot simply dismiss right of fetus to life by invoking a“ superior right to privacyQuality of Life Argument- abortion warranted for deformed, retarded children- teenage pregnancy, cannot afford child- no unwanted child should enter the world- counter argument: adoption. We do not have the right to “play God”Personhood Argument- human beings are used ambiguously - persons vs homo sapiens- person: ability to reason or emphatically communicate about interpersonal relationso gorillas, chimpanzees and dogs have this abilityConservative Response and Liberal Counterresponse- would be permitted to kill unconscious and retarded, senile humans, people when they sleepo counterargument: adequate self-consciousness and rationality- fetus is potential persono counterargument: does not have same rights as an actual person- sanctioning infanticideRights to Infants and Viable Fetuses- “nature has apparently implanted in us an instinctive tenderness toward infants that has proven extremely useful to the species, not only because it leads us to protect our young from death, and thus keep our population up, but also because infants usually grow into adults… - spontaneous warmth and sympathy toward babies then clearly has a great deal of social utility - becoming a person is not a biological given but an interactive process. Lecture: Schwartz and Newton discuss there is no distinct line of zygote and person, so line must begin before zygote- Just because there is no clear distinction between wealth/poverty, hair/bald, zygote/person… does not mean you can not appreciate a difference between the two different statesReasons for Abortion:Subjectivism-o Culture defines morality. o Morality is subjective o Can’t tell me what to do. It is my choiceOverall, not good reasoning.***Absolute Right to Your Body-o Fetus has right to life. I have right to my bodyo Absolute right: outweighs any other right o Does it give the right to harm others? Not good reason either***Quality of Life-o Utilitarian argumento Allowing child to be born into a bad lifeo Ok to kill 5 yr old child because future looks bad?Not a good reason buddy***Personhood-o Things gain rights from psychological issues  Sense of self Reactive Self-awareo Define person. And thus these qualities define who has rights Babies do not have this, nor vegetables, disabled persons, people sleeping, unconsciouso Zygote has potential to become person.  Just because the potential is there, does not mean that they deserve full rights of their potentialo Infanticide. Can’t kill babies. Babies do not have right to life as adults do. Society decides to give babies protection, affection. In our best interest to treat babies as if they did have rights. Infants are closer to personhood, thus we are more comfortable giving them rights, more than a fetuso 6 steps: justify rights to babies and not to fetuseso all and only actual persons have right to life psychological traitso persons are defined with having reason, self-conscious, desireo both fetus and infants do not have these capacities, and thus, no natural rights to lifeo there are social rights which we confer on some beingso there are good reasons for treating infants as persons, but there aren’tgood reasons as treating fetuses as personso we ought to bestow social rights on infants and viable infantsLecture 3 Article Notes: On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion- Noonan argues fetuses are human in the moral sense- All humans have full moral rights- If genetically human, is also morally humanMoral community? - Consists of all human beingsTo determine personhood:1. Consciousness (of objects and events external and/or internal to the being) capacity to feel pain2. Reasoning (the developed capacity to solve new and relatively complex problems)3. Self-motivated activity (activity which is relatively independent of either genetic or direct external control)4. The capacity to communicate of an indefinite variety of types5. Presence of self-concepts and self-awareness- Outweighing a woman’s right to abortion - A woman’s right to protect her health, happiness, freedom, and even her life by terminating an unwanted