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Avoiding the Personhood Issue: Abortion, Identity, and M arquis's ‘Future‐Like‐Ours’ Argument
Author(s) -
Reitan Eric
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
bioethics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.494
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1467-8519
pISSN - 0269-9702
DOI - 10.1111/bioe.12211
Subject(s) - personhood , argument (complex analysis) , abortion , appeal , morality , identity (music) , metaphysics , order (exchange) , epistemology , personal identity , sociology , philosophy , law and economics , law , political science , pregnancy , medicine , self , aesthetics , economics , finance , biology , genetics
One reason for the persistent appeal of D on M arquis' ‘future like ours’ argument ( FLO ) is that it seems to offer a way to approach the debate about the morality of abortion while sidestepping the difficult task of establishing whether the fetus is a person. This essay argues that in order to satisfactorily address both of the chief objections to FLO – the ‘identity objection’ and the ‘contraception objection’ – M arquis must take a controversial stand on what is most essential to being the kind of entity that an adult human being is. Such a stand amounts to a controversial account of personhood. To the extent that FLO 's success depends on accepting such a controversial metaphysical view, one apparent attraction of FLO proves illusory.