Deck 10: Personhood in the Abortion Debate

Question 1

Why is the word/concept 'person' ambiguous? Because

A) It is vague
B) It has more than one meaning
C) It applies to some non-humans
D) All of the above

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following meanings of 'person' are moral?

A) Being with a right to life
B) Being with certain psychological capacities
C) Member of Homo sapiens
D) All of the above

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Select the problem facing this claim: "The ability to think critically is necessary for personhood"

A) Under-inclusiveness
B) Over-inclusiveness
C) Speciesism
D) More than one of the above

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Select the problem facing this claim: "Sentience is sufficient for personhood"

A) Under-inclusiveness
B) Over-inclusiveness
C) Speciesism
D) More than one of the above

Question 5

Select the problem facing this claim: "Sentience is necessary for personhood"

A) Under-inclusiveness
B) Over-inclusiveness
C) Speciesism
D) More than one of the above

Question 6

Consider "Personhood requires consciousness. Therefore, it is OK to kill infants, or those who are sleeping, under anesthesia, or temporarily comatose." This is an objection to a criterion of personhood following under which category?

A) Species membership criterion
B) Psychological capacities criterion
C) Moral agency criterion
D) All of the above

Question 7

Which of the following best captures the significance of criteria of personhood to the abortion debate?

A) There is no consensus about correct criteria of personhood
B) Many arguments in the abortion debate hinge on whether fetuses are persons
C) Some parties hold that the fetus is a person, others deny this
D) All of the above

Question 8

According to Engaging Bioethics, if there are any extraterrestrials with psychological capacities similar to nonimpaired adults of the species Homo sapiens, they would

A) Have the moral standing of paradigm persons
B) Have the moral standing of nonparadigm persons
C) Lack moral standing
D) None of the above

Question 9

Which of the following are emotively charged expressions in the abortion debate?

A) 'Human fetus'
B) 'Pro-life'
C )'Nonparadigm person'
D) All of the above

Question 10

According to Engaging Bioethics, which of the following categories best accommodates infants born with severe cognitive impairments?

A) Paradigm persons
B) Not persons at all
C) Nonparadigm persons
D) None of the above

Question 11

Of the two approaches for determining personhood mentioned above, which qualify as ambitious and which as modest? Is there a reason for preferring one type of approach over the others?

Question 12

What are paradigm persons? Explain.

Question 13

According to psychological criteria of personhood, do all humans counts as persons? May nonhumans be persons?

Question 14

According to the authors of Engaging Bioethics, what's wrong with referring to defenders and critics of abortion as 'pro-choice' and 'pro-life,' respectively?

Question 15

Formulate a criterion of personhood that would imply that it is morally forbidden to destroy cognitively sophisticated computers such as Watson (the knowledge system that beat human competitors in the quiz show Jeopardy). Discuss what this implication means for the adequacy of that criterion.