Transcript Part II Pro-Life Christians Establish a Foundation for the

Part II Pro-Life Christians Establish a
Foundation for the Debate
“When pro-life advocates claim that elective
abortion unjustly takes the life of a
defenseless human being, they are not saying
they dislike abortion. They are saying it’s
objectively wrong, regardless of how one feels
about it.”
Claims About Ice Cream Versus Claims
About Truth
• Two Kinds of Truth
– Objective Truth – These are things that
correspond to reality and are true whether I think
they are or not. Example: The Astros went to the
World Series in 2005.
• Subjective Truth
– Personal in nature and depends on preferences.
Example: Chocolate ice cream is better than
vanilla.
“Don’ t like abortion, don’t have one.”
• This is the pro-choice way of changing the
argument from objective truth to subjective
truth. They say your stance on abortion is just
a preference.
• Pro life advocates don’t oppose abortion
because it is distasteful, they oppose it
because it violates rational moral principles.
Example
• “Don’t like slavery, don’t own one.”
• “Don’t like spousal abuse, don’t abuse your
spouse.”
Dictatorship of Relativism
• Ethical Relativism – The belief that right and
wrong are up to us to decide.
Two Kinds of Relativism
• Cultural Relativism
– Because cultures disagree on important moral
issues, objective moral truths either do not exist
or if they do exist we cannot know them.
• Individual Relativism
– Right and wrong begin with each human being.
Answers to Relativism
• Cultures do not differ as much as we may
think.
• If cultures do differ, it does not follow that
nobody is correct
– Slavery,
– Female Infanticide
– Equal rights for women
Answers to Relativism Continued..
• If morals are relative to culture or the
individual there is no ethical difference
between Mother Theresa and Hitler.
• Relativism in any form cannot tell me I
“ought” to do anything including being
tolerant of another culture.
• Relativism is judgmental. If it’s wrong to
judge, why do you judge pro-lifers?
Do Morals Count as True Knowledge?
• Moral Realism – The belief that morals exist
even if I don’t recognize or acknowledge
them.
• Moral Non-Realism – Morals are merely
subjective opinions.
Ask the Why Question
• Next time you hear, “I personally oppose
abortion, but think it should remain legal,” ask
Why do you personally oppose abortion?
• If elective abortion does not take the life of a
defenseless human being without justification,
why oppose it at all?
Read Page 99 – The Satirical Example
by Robert George
The Ground Rules Part 2: Is Moral
Neutrality Possible
“Moral neutrality is impossible. Both sides of the
abortion controversy bring prior metaphysical
commitments to the debate. Why, then, is it
okay for liberals to legislate their metaphysical
views on the status of the unborn but not
okay for pro-lifers to legislate theirs?”
Metaphysics
• The Nature of Reality
• What’s ultimately real?
• Is that reality one or many, material or
immaterial?
• Do living things have specific natures that
define the kinds of things they are?
• What makes humans valuable?
Both Sides Use Metaphysics
• Pro Abortion – Humans have value not because
of the kind of thing they are but because of an
acquired property that comes to be later in the
life of the human organism. The embryo does
not appear to be a human with rights so it can be
destroyed.
• Pro Life – Humans are intrinsically valuable in
virtue of the kind of thing they are. They differ
with respect to talents, accomplishment and
degrees of development, but they are equal.
• Pro life advocates provide a rational defense for
their position.
– Science d
• Pro choice argument is grounded in metaphysics
as well.
• Both arguments are supported by religious
arguments
• Claiming an embryo is a human with rights is no
more religious than saying it is not.
• State neutrality is impossible.
3 Positions About Humans That Can be
Defended
• Human beings are in no morally relevant way
different from other creatures and have no
special dignity.
– Stepping on an ant no different than killing your
grandmother.
• Some, but not all, human beings have dignity;
those who have it possess it by virtue of some
quality or set of qualities that they happen to
possess that some other humans don’t
possess.
– You will have to accept arguments for infanticide
eventually if you hold this position.
• Human beings have inherent and equal
dignity.
– If you hold this the question is, “What makes a
human?”
– This question has already been answered by
Science and it is that at the moment of conception
the embryo is a human being.
Foundations: Does God Matter?
“Even if the pro-life view cannot be fully
explained without explicit reference to
Christian faith, it does not follow that the prolife view is inherently irrational. Christian
theists make rational arguments for their
position, and it’s wrong for materialists to
simply presume the truth of their positions.”