Study Guide for Exam #3


To study for Exam #3, write out answers the following questions.  Be sure to answer the questions completely -- don't assume that the reader knows anything about the topic; don't assume that the reader already knows the details of the thought experiments that are used in the arguments.

1. (a) What is the Fundamental Question in the Abortion Debate?
    (b) What is the problem with putting the question in the following way: "Is abortion morally permissible?"?

2. (a) What is Noonan's Main Thesis?
    (b) Present Noonan's Main Argument for this thesis (the one featuring The Injury Principle).  (No need to "Explain" this argument.)
    (c) Evaluate this argument.

3. (a) What is the fallacy of equivocation?  What exactly is defective about arguments that commit the fallacy of equivocation?
    (b) Present the Third Anti-Abortion Argument (featuring "The Killing-the-Innocent Principle").
    (c) The Third Anti-Abortion Argument commits the fallacy of equivocation.  On what word does the argument equivocate?  Explain the two meanings of this word. 
    (d) Evaluate the Third Anti-Abortion Argument.

4. (a) Which premise of the Third Anti-Abortion Argument (premise 1 or premise 2) does Thomson concede for the sake of argument?
    (b) Present, Explain, and Evaluate The Famous Violinist Argument against The Killing-the-Innocent Principle.

5. (a) What is Thomson's Position on Abortion?
    (b) Do you think using highly reliable birth control amounts to taking all reasonable precautions against having a child?  Or do you think more (such as abstinence) is required? Suppose abstinence is required; how does this make trouble for Thomson's defense of abortion?

6. (a) What is the Desire Theory of Killing (DTK)?  Give some reasons to think it is not true.
    (b) What is the Future-Like-Ours Theory of Killing (FLOTK)?
    (c) What does FLOTK imply about euthanasia? Do you think FLOTK has the correct implication here?
    (d) What does FLOTK imply about killing babies so young that they are not yet persons (in the psychological sense)? Do you think FLOTK has the correct implication here?
    (d) What does FLOTK imply about abortion? Do you think FLOTK has the correct implication here?  Explain.