HOMEWORK ON THE PROBLEM OF ABORTION: Answer all questions (the best answers will count). Exactly one answer to each question is the best one, and is thus correct. Please use scantrons.

51) According to Stef's lectures (and the main argument about abortion), to show that abortion is morally wrong we must show that
A) abortion is outrageous and sinful
B) a fetus has a serious moral standing (e.g., has a right to life)
C) (B)above & also that the fetus' rights are not overridden by some other important considerations
D) a fetus has legal right E) all of the above

52) According to Thomson, to establish that abortion is morally wrong one must show that
A) abortion is outrageous or sinful
B) a fetus has a right to life
C) a fetus has a right to life and this right is not overridden by some other important consideration
D) all of the above

53) The following are normative concepts (components of the concept) of a person:
A) a person from a moral point of view
B) a person from a legal point of view
C) a biological person (a human being) and a person from a common-sense point of view
D) both A and B E) all of the above.

54) The following are descriptive concepts (components of the concept) of a person:
A) a person from a moral point of view and a person from a legal point of view
B) a biological person (a human being)
C) a person from a common-sense point of view
D) both B) and C)). E) none of the above.

55) According to Noonan's criterion for humanity, you are human if (and only if)
A) you are conceived by human parents and/or have human genetics
B) you are viable C) you are born
D) all of the above. E) none of the above

56) Noonan is sympathetic to the idea that all biological human beings have a right to life
A) true B) false.

57) Noonan thinks abortion is permissible if and only if
A) A potential mother's health is endangered
B) Pregnancy is a result of rape
C) Abortion is an act of defending the mother's life
D) All of the above. E) none of the above

58) According to Mary Anne Warren (MAW) a person, in the moral sense of this term, means
A) any compassionate being who has moral feelings
B) a human being
C) any being having equal protection by basic rules of morality, e.g., basic equal moral rights
D) all of the above E) none of the above

59) Mary Anne Warren argues that equal basic moral rights are possessed by
A) all and only biological human beings
B) all and only those who have all the empirical components (characteristics) of persons
C) those who have empirical components of persons as well as by some other beings, provided we have adequate reasons to extend the basic protection to those being
D) all beings who are empirical persons potentially
E) all of the above

60) According to Mary Anne Warren the empirical components of the concept of person include the following:
A) Consciousness and sentience
B) Rationality and self-awareness (or self-concept)
C) Self-motivated behavior, and linguistic capacity
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

61) According to Mary Anne Warren, to say that someone is sentient (has consciousness and sentience) means that:
A) this being has feelings and sensations (e.g. is able to feel pain and pleasure)
B) this being remembers his/her past, and understands the sort of being s/he is
C) this being is able to respond in appropriate ways to relatively difficult situations
D) this being is able to determine his/her own goals and act to achieve these goals
E) all of the above.

62) According to Mary Anne Warren, to say that someone is rational means that
A) this being has feelings and sensations (e.g. is able to feel pain and pleasure)
B) this being remembers his/her past, and understands the sort of being s/he is
C) this being is able to respond in appropriate (and general) ways to relatively difficult situations
D) this being is able to determine his/her own goals and act to achieve these goals
E) all of the above.

63) According to Warren, to say that someone is self-aware (self-conscious) means that:
A) this being has feelings and sensations (e.g. is able to feel pain and pleasure)
B) this being remembers his/her past, and understands the sort of being s/he is
C) this being is able to respond in appropriate ways to relatively difficult situations
D) this being is able to determine his/her own goals and act to achieve these goals
E) all of the above.

64) Mary Anne Warren argues that the following beings should be granted a right to life
A) human fetuses
B) small children and severely retarded humans
C) all of the above
D) none of the above

65) In here article Thomson
A) attacks the idea that a fetus has a right to life
B) assumes that a fetus has a right to life
C) argues that abortion is frequently morally permissible
D) B) and C E) none of the above

66) A violinist example seems to show that
A) abortion may be permissible when it saves life
B) abortion may be permissible when it's a result of rape
C) abortion is permissible when it saves health
D) all of the above

A N S W E R S
________

51) According to Stef's lectures (and the main argument about abortion), to show that abortion is morally wrong we must show that
B) a fetus has a serious moral standing (e.g., has a right to life)
---> C) (B)above & also that the fetus' rights are not overridden by some other important considerations

Another way to show that abortion is wrong would be to show that there are some other considerations applicable to abortion. For example, a woman might have made a solemn promise to someone, or maybe humankind is o n a brink of extinction, etc.

52) According to Thomson, to establish that abortion is morally wrong one must show that
C) a fetus has a right to life and this right is not overridden by some other important consideration

53) The following are normative concepts (components of the concept) of a person:
A) a person from a moral point of view
B) a person from a legal point of view
---> D) both A and B E) all of the above.

54) The following are descriptive concepts (components of the concept) of a person:
B) a biological person (a human being)
C) a person from a common-sense point of view
--> D) both B) and C)).

Never mind questions 55)-57, but

57) According to Noonan's criterion for humanity, you are human if (and only if)
--> A) you are conceived by human parents and/or have human genetics
B) you are viable C) you are born
D) all of the above. E) none of the above

56) Noonan is sympathetic to the idea that all biological human beings have a right to life [ true ].

57) Noonan thinks abortion is permissible if and only if
--> C) Abortion is an act of defending the mother's life
D) All of the above. E) none of the above

58) According to Mary Anne Warren (MAW) a person, in the moral sense of this term, means
--> C) any being having equal protection by basic rules of morality, e.g., basic equal moral rights

59) Mary Anne Warren argues that equal basic moral rights are possessed by
--> C) those who have empirical components of persons as well as by some other beings, provided we have adequate reasons to extend the basic protection to those being

Notice that MAW accept so called, "Compelling Reasons Criterion." Feinberg is sympathetic to this criterion, too.

60) According to Mary Anne Warren the empirical components of the concept of person include the following:
A) Consciousness and sentience
B) Rationality and self-awareness (or self-concept)
C) Self-motivated behavior, and linguistic capacity
--> D) All of the above

Notice, persons(cs) [persons from a commonsense point of view] have all of those components.

61) According to Mary Anne Warren, to say that someone is sentient (has consciousness and sentience) means that:
--> A) this being has feelings and sensations (e.g. is able to feel pain and pleasure)

62) According to Mary Anne Warren, to say that someone is rational means that
--> C) this being is able to respond in appropriate (and general) ways to relatively difficult situations

Notice, in class we distinguished two kinds of rationality.
Practical rationality is about finding and using right means to achieve desirable goals. Many animals are rational in this sense. But this is not the concept of rationality that goes into the concept of personhood.
Theoretical rationality involves the above as well as ability to find connections between ideas, draw proper inferences, etc.

63) According to Warren, to say that someone is self-aware (self-conscious) means that:
--> B) this being remembers his/her past, and understands the sort of being s/he is

64) Mary Anne Warren argues that the following beings should be granted a right to life
--> B) small children and severely retarded humans

She uses the compelling reasons criterion to justify this claim.

65) In here article Thomson
A) attacks the idea that a fetus has a right to life
B) assumes that a fetus has a right to life
C) argues that abortion is frequently morally permissible
--> D) B) and C

For example, consider the Violinist example.

66) A violinist example seems to show that
--> B) abortion may be permissible when it's a result of a rape

Professional Ethics