J.J. Thompson's Violinist Thought Experiment Concerning Abortion

[vulcanlogician]

So what do you think? Does this thought experiment accurately reflect any moral dilemma involved in abortion? Why or why not?

[ignoramus]

It another Kobayashi Maru. No winners either way.
It's a little unfair to compare the 2 scenarios imo because a women knows when she risks getting pregnant. "As opposed to "taken randomly in a hospital against your wishes".

My philosophy is that life is precious, but the opportunity for happiness in life is even more important. Otherwise what's the point of "living".
I don't subscribe to religious bullshit where life is a struggle and a test.

[The Architect Of Fate]

It another Kobayashi Maru. No winners either way.
It's a little unfair to compare the 2 scenarios imo because a women knows when she risks getting pregnant. "As opposed to "taken randomly in a hospital against your wishes".

The risk of pregnancy is irrelevant after it's happened. To keep a woman in that state against her will is no different than forcing her to be connected to the violinist. How they got to point of coercion is secondary to coercion itself.

[polymath257]

Even if the person willingly attaches themselves to the violinist originally, there is still an absolute right to disconnect.

[The Grand Nudger]

I don't think that any dependent argument is anything other than straw, and don't personally believe in a right to choice. I don't see how things can ever be governed...any other way, still.

We make a terrible choice for personal freedom against life, for good reason, but it's still a bad choice.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

It another Kobayashi Maru. No winners either way.
It's a little unfair to compare the 2 scenarios imo because a women knows when she risks getting pregnant. "As opposed to "taken randomly in a hospital against your wishes".

My philosophy is that life is precious, but the opportunity for happiness in life is even more important. Otherwise what's the point of "living".
I don't subscribe to religious bullshit where life is a struggle and a test.

Might you feel differently about ‘a woman knows when she risks getting pregnant’ if pregnancy-via-rape was added to the thought experiment?

Boru

[no one]

I have no lines in the Play: Other People's Bodies.

[brewer]

I only consider fiddlers persons, unplug me now.

[Neo-Scholastic]

There is a difference between processes that proceed naturally, gestation, and those that must be sustained artificially, outside medical intervention. This distinction would be relevant for end of life problems too. Also, the mother-child relationship feels essentially different from that of two random people. Why does the prestige of the dependant matter? Not taking a stand on the issue just trying to consider all the angles on the thought problem.

[The Architect Of Fate]

There is a difference between processes that proceed naturally, gestation, and those that must be sustained artificially, outside medical intervention. This distinction would be relevant for end of life problems too. Also, the mother-child relationship feels essentially different from that of two random people. Why does the prestige of the dependant matter? Not taking a stand on the issue just trying to consider all the angles on the thought problem.

The only relevant issue is coercion everything else you just wrote here is nitpicking