I have 2 questions/issues:
1. In my paper, I have tried to argue that autonomy is intrinsically valuble for itself and that it should be a part of the objective list. That being said a possible objection from a hedonisnt to me would be that whenever I had experienced autonomy, there was also the presence of pleasure and hence my life increased in goodness, all else equal. So now, whenever I am having autonomy, I am quickly jumping to the conclusion that it is autonomy which makes my life better. According to the hedonist, I am mistakenly attributing the increased goodness in life to autonomy. So, how would respond to the hedonist if you are arguing in favor of autonomy?
2. We had discussions regarding fetuses as potential human beings in class and whether it is morally right to do abortion. If I am correct, we could not tell when exactly does a fetus achieve personhood. So if I am not mistaken, an abortion carried out after the fetus achieves personhood is morally wrong.
Now I was actually wondering what happens to moral status of the abortion when the abortion is carried out exactly at the time the fetus is achieving personhood, meaning it is in a transition phase. Any ideas?
to the first point:
ReplyDeleteCouldn't you claim that the hedonist is mistakenly attributing autonomy to an increased goodness? Which is basically the argument they are making to you. Given that if autonomy is intrinsically valuable in and of itself, it does not rely on other morals. Increased goodness in life may be a stepping stone along the way, almost an intermediary, but the overall intrinsic value is autonomy.
Regarding point two:
You say "we could not tell when exactly does a fetus achieve personhood. " This is the first problem with the whole issue. Anyone can make up a point at which a fetus becomes a person. To me this leads to a pointed issue. On one side, you can say since it is not known then a woman should proceed with abortion whenever she feels it needs to happen. On the other side, you can say as soon as an egg is fertilized(fetus created-human being) then a person is created at the same time. Regarding your question, thats actually pretty interesting. In my eyes if this 'personhood' idea is true, the minute it begins to become a person then it should be considered as such. Maybe its less of a person then at the end of the transition, but it still is making the transition.
Those are my thoughts!
- Corey
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGiven that autonomy is intrinsically valuable, pleasure is extrinsically good. The hedonist has the exact opposite value simpliciter with you.
ReplyDeleteI think the hedonist consequentialists have the better outcome than the welfare consequatialists as they have to make a happier life
ReplyDeleteIf hedonist consequentialists have a better life outcome because of the life being happier, then what are the drawbacks of a welfare consequentialist? Don't you think welfare is also good for the life?
ReplyDeleteIn fact, how are you interpreting welfare here? What does it mean to us?