Killing Is Wrong Research Paper

A partisan is someone who supports one part or party (Merriam-Webster), as further described in a dictionary. Author Mark Cooney uses partisan and partisanship throughout the book when subject matters of killing is related to the theory of law and or actions of trial cases taken place in a court of law. On pages 171 – 176, I found to be interesting, as partisanship is not, however, simply a matter of having close ties to one side. Cooney quotes sociologist Black’s second principle of social gravitation. The issue of third parties being close to one side increases in

In “Why Abortion is Immoral”, Don Marquis offers his anti-abortion argument known as a “future like ours" (Marquis, 558). Marquis takes a step back from focusing on the complicated moral status of the fetus, and instead asks seemingly less controversial questions: what makes killing an innocent adult wrong, and what right we adult humans possess not to be killed? His answer serves as the first premise for his argument: killing is prima facie morally wrong because it deprives an individual of their future of value. His second premise is that killing a fetus, i.e. abortion, also deprives it a future of value, which he refers to as a “future like ours” (559). Marquis concludes that because fetuses possess the innate property that is sufficient to make killing adult human beings wrong, that killing fetuses is also wrong. Simply stated, abortions are prima facie immoral, for the same reason that killing an innocent adult is prima facie immoral (559)

The fetus has a valuable future, just as we consider children, the retarded or mentally ill to have valuable futures, thus killing a fetus is not morally permissible. Another pro-choice argument is that the fetus has no desire to live and consequently there is no wrongness in killing. Marquis criticizes this viewpoint, as society believes it is morally wrong to kill those who have no desire to live, and those who are unconscious or suicidal (Gedge & Waluchow, 2012, p220).

Marquis thinks that premise one is true because killing in particular “deprives the victim more than perhaps any other crime” (Marquis, 1989, pg. 190). The reason that killing is wrong, Marquis thinks, is because of the innate badness that death brings via depriving something of a future. It is this depriving of a future that Marquis uses to motivate the rest of his argument, and why killing is bad. The second premise is true to Marquis because it is “having a future like [ours] is what makes killing someone wrong” (1989, pg. 191). The key phrasing here is that a future like ours (FLO) extends to something that can grow to value a future much like our own, therefore, giving a fetus FLO. Finally, Marquis finds the third premise is true because, abortion is killing off a being that can develop into having a FLO. It also does not even have to do with the fact it will be human, but merely because it could have a FLO (Marquis, 1989, pg. 191). Marquis has already provided that death has an intrinsic quality of depriving a future (pg. 190), so he makes a reasonable connection that killing is bad, and therefore, abortion is equivocal to killing because it causes death, which then deprives the fetus of a FLO (Marquis, 1989). Naturally, the conclusion must be true that aborting a fetus is impermissible after following the truths of premises

Marquis begins his article by exploiting the fallacies of both the pro-choice and anti-abortion standard arguments. He states that anti-abortionist claims are often too broad while the pro-choice claims are often too narrow. The issue of ambiguity also arises on both sides of the argument. The anti-abortionist position becomes ambiguous if the wrongness of killing is based on a biological trait. Marquis explains that the color of ones skin, in the anti-abortionist view, is not a reason to not kill, whereas the trait of being a human being which consists of having 23 pair of chromosomes, would make it immoral to kill. Furthermore, pro-choice arguments are also ambiguous in that it is not clear what is considered a ‘person’ using psychological criteria. According to Joel Feinberg, a person is a conscious being with a sense of self and the ability to make rational decisions, set goals, and is in control of their own

Don Marquis starts off his essay stating that most anti-abortion arguments are often thought of as of “irrational religious dogma or a conclusion generated by seriously confused philosophical argument.” (Marquis, p 183). He goes on to say that his essay will show abortion is seriously immoral and in the same moral category as killing an innocent adult human. Marquis then deconstructs typical arguments made both for and against abortion. He disagrees with the common arguments made by the anti-abortionist because the moral principles they use are often too broad in scope. Marquis draws parallels between the typical anti-abortionist arguments and the standard pro-choice arguments. For example, he notes the anti-abortionist will often make the claim that life is present at conception or the fetus looks like a baby and therefore it is a human being with a right to life. Regarding the pro-choice arguments Marquis notices similar arguments in the other direction. For example, the pro-choicer will claim the fetuses are not persons. Marquis notices there is too much ambiguity in the arguments of both sides. Marquis says that the moral claims made by each party do not do a good job touching the essence of the matter. Marquis then goes on to state that in order to understand why abortion is wrong we must first find out why it is wrong to kill us. He arrives at the conclusion that it is wrong to kill us because it deprives us our future. Marquis argues that since a standard fetus has a future just like a child or an adult

Thou shalt not kill; one-tenth of what may arguably be the most famous guidelines of morality in the western culture, and also the main driving force for pro-life advocates. The argument supporting their beliefs typically starts with the premises that a fetus is a person, and to destroy or to kill a person is unethical. Therefore abortion, the premeditated destruction of a human being, is murder, and consequently unethical. I deny the fact that the fetus, what I will refer to as an embryo up to 22 weeks old, has the right to live. The opposing argument is invalid because a fetus, although perhaps a part of human species, is not formally a person. This leaves it simply to be a part of the woman?s body, whose fate lies solely in the

During this article he will talk about anti-abortion and prochoice, meaning one is against abortion and the other one is okay with the choice you decide to go with. Anti-abortionist believe that everything is obvious and it shows how abortion is murder. Pro choicer believe that the truth is obvious as well but abortion is not a killing. Each of these groups will claim that their reasoning behind aborting or not will either be right or wrong depending in what group you seem to represent. In the article, Marquis wrote that anti-abortionist will claim that their information supported will be morally correct because of how wrong it is to take a baby’s life. As for the pro choicer, they will claim that it is accepted by the moral values and on how it is not wrong to take a human life. By trying to correct the problems of decision making it can still lead to other problems. The anit-abortionist will try to get rid of the problem by reconciling the wrongs of killing a human. After this it can lead to “It is always prima facie seriously wrong to end a human being” (p.253). This advantage can be a bit harder to reach because it is stated in this article that a fetus is a human and alive, but it still doesn’t mean that that the fetus

"Come on Chandler smoke this cigarette, one wont kill you. "No man my parents will kill me and you both if they find out you game me a cigarette. "Come on take one, I don't offer this to just anybody" , "no man I'm good, besides I want to be able to breathe when I'm older anyways." My cousin tried to convince me to smoke a cigarette, I didn't smoke it because I know the consequences I would suffer if I had smoked it. I'm not an exception to the rule, most young adults actually care about not just themselves but others in general, so here are three reasons we care.

The eighth amendment is designed to protect us from cruel and unusual punishment. Conservation of the United States Constitution, and all moral ideologies have been set aside. An old form of barbaric punishment and the saying "eye for an eye" is still being widely accepted by Americans today. The old form of barbaric punishment is capital punishment. No matter how "humane" the death penalty has become, it is still the killing of another human being. When people stand outside prisons and cheer that an individual was murdered, there is a problem. When people justify the killing of another person, there

Extrajudicial killings, or targeted killings as it is sometimes called, is the “deliberate, specific targeting and killing, by a government or its agents, of a supposed terrorist or of a supposed ‘unlawful combatant’ (i.e., one taking a direct part in hostilities in the context of an armed conflict) who is not in that government's custody” (“Targeted Killing”, Wikipedia). For years, targeted killings have been an integral part of modern warfare and in recent times has also integrated itself into the everyday law enforcement. An example of the former would be USA’s constant use of this as a central component of its counter-terrorism operations, and a perfect example of the latter would be its utilization by Bangladesh’s elite anti-crime

Awil Salah Osman and many other kids are being terrorised and tortured to be child soldiers and some think that they need amnesty when really they do not need it or get it. There are more than 200,000 kids in the line of fire shooting and killing other people. The article Armed and Underage states that the kids were given two choices to run or to stay and be a fighter. Two kids ran From commanders and were shot dead with ak-47 rifles. Some others may say that the kids were fighting for rights when recruited but it didn't take long to realize who they were killing. Prosecuting the kids after they got out of the war was a very difficult task also. Article 26 states that kids 18 and under cannot be prosecuted .

Murder, legalized or not, has always been and continues to be a controversial topic. Many people argue that murder is wrong because it denies someone the right to life, while some argue that if the situation calls for it, murder is acceptable. The best way to go about this argument is to first define the word murder. According to Cornell Law School, “Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought.” This means that acts of self-defense are not truly murder because the person has no intent to kill and is only protecting themselves. I believe that murder is wrong no matter what and there are no exceptions if there is any evil intent.

Almost everyone has been stuck in a situation where they were having trouble determining what they should do. In those situations, the actions that are available to them to choose from are either classified by our society as right or wrong. It is obvious to most people what the right option in a situation is as well as why they should choose it, but why do part of those people still choose the wrong option if they are fully aware what they chose is awry.

In Bonnie Steinbock’s essay, “Why Abortions Are Not Wrong,” she argues that abortions are morally acceptable because fetuses are non-sentient beings and therefore lack interests as well as moral status. Her first premise suggests that it is wrong to kill